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LEARNING TO READ 



LEARNING TO READ 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS OF 
YOUNG CHILDREN 



BY 



SARAH LOUISE ARNOLD 

FORMERLY SUPERVISOR OF SCHOOLS, BOSTON, MASS.; AUTHOR OF 
" STEPPING STONES TO LITERATURE," " VVAYMARKS," ETC. 



j7 




SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 



v^'P 



Stepping ^tonejs to Literature^ 

A UNIQUE SERIES OP READEKS UPON A NEW PLAN. 

By SARAH LOUISE ARNOLD, formerly Supervisor of Boston Schools, 
and CHARLES B. GILBERT, Superintendent of Rochester Schools. 



A FIRST READER (128 pp., over 153 illustrations, including 8 color pages, reproductions of 

masterpieces, and choice text cuts). Price, 30 cents. 
A SECOND READER (160 pp., over 100 illustrations, including 8 color pages, reproductions 

of famous paintings and choice originals). Price, 40 cents. 
A THIRD READER (224 pp., illustrated with reproductions of famous paintings, portraits of 

authors, and choice original cuts). Price, 50 cents. 
A FOURTH READER (320 pp., illustrated with reproductions of masterpieces, portraits of 

authors, and appropriate originals). Price, 60 cents. 
A READER FOR FIFTH GRADES (320 pp., illustrated with reproductions of famous 

paintings, and with numerous original cuts). Price, 60 cents. 
A READER FOR SIXTH GRADES (320 pp., with illustrations from original drawings and 

famous paintings, and containing an unusual number of spirited poems). Price, 60 cents. 
A READER FOR SEVENTH GRADES (320 pp., illustrated with portraits of authors and 

their homes, etc., and devoted to American literature). Price, 60 cents. 
A READER FOR HIGHER GRADES (336 pp., illustrated with originals, portraits, and fine 

reproductions, and devoted to English literature). Price, 60 cents. 
A FIFTH READER (495 pp. Especially prepared for schools desiring a Five-Reader Series. 

Fully illustrated). Price, 75 cents. 



SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY, Publishers, 



NEW YORK. 



BOSTON. 



CHICAGO. 



Copyright, 1899, 1903, 

uV Silver, buedett and company. 



THE LIbRAKY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Received 

M.AR 3 1903 

. Copyright tntty 
CLASSOL* XXc. No. 
COPY B. 



GREETING. 

To Teachers of Lit fie Children: 

This little book is an outcome of schoolroom experience^ and its 
" excuse for beiiig " arises from an earnest desire to le?id a hand 
to fellow-workers in a common cause. No sleight-of-hand or trick 
of the trade can serve as a patent and all-sufficient device in teach- 
ing reading. Hard work a7td ready wit, together with knowledge 
of child-lif and love of teaching, — these must make the way to 
success. But a study of the experience of others may throw some 
light on the path of the young learner, — a path difficult enough 
at best in the early days. These hints and suggestions will filfil 
their mission if they s'erve, even in slight degree, to answer the 
questions and solve the problems of the young teacher, whose privi- 
lege it is to lead her children into the Promised Land of Books. 
These pages are written in such hope, and go forth with cordial 
greeting to all whom they can serve. 

SARAH LOUISE ARNOLD. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Letter to Teachers 3 

Chapter 

I. How I Learned to Read. Hugh MUIev 7 

II. The Art of Reading 13 

III. The First Year in Reading .31 

I v. Language Lessons, as an Aid to Reading 67 

V. Illustrative Lessons 77 

Tlie Cow. First Grade 77 

The Oak. First Grade 81 

The Blacksmith. Second Grade 83 

The Rain. Second Grade 84 

Bird Life. First Grade 86 

The Builders. Third Grade 88 

Little Bell. Third Grade 90 



LEARNING TO READ 

CHAPTER I. 

HOW I LEARNED TO READ. 

From " Mij Schools and Schoolmasters." — Hugh Miller, 

I HAD been sent, previous to my father's death, to a dame's school, 
where I was taught to pronounce my letters to such effect in the 
old Scottish mode, that still, when I attempt spelling a word aloud, 
which is not often, — for I tind the process a perilous one, — the art'.s, 
and ee's, and w/i's, and raiCs, return upon me, and I have to translate 
them, with no little hesitation as I go along, into the more modish 
sounds. A knowledge of the letters themselves I had already ac- 
quired by studying the signposts of the place, — rare works of art, 
that excited my utmost admiration, with jugs, and glasses, and bottles, 
and ships, and loaves 'ef bread upon them ; all of which could, as the 
artist intended, be actually recognized. During my sixth year, I spelt 
my way, under the dame, through the Shorter Catechism, the Proverbs, 
and the New Testament, and then entered upon her highest form, as a 
member of the Bible Class ; but all the wiiile, the process of acquiring 
learning had been a dark one, which I slowly mastered, in humble con- 
f dence in the awful wisdom of the schoolmistress, not knowing whither 
it tended, — when at once my mind awoke to the meaning of that most 
delightful of all narratives, the story of Joseph. Was there ever 
such a discovery made before ! I actually found out for myself, that 
the art of reading is the art of finding stories in books, and from that 
moment reading became one of the most delightful of my amusements. 



LEARNING TO READ. 



I began by getting into a corner at the dismissal of the school, and 
there conning over to myself the ncAV-found story of Joseph ; nor did 
one perusal serve ; the other Scripture stories followed, — in especial, 
the story of Samson and the Philistines, of David and Goliath, of the 
prophets Elijah and Elislia ; and after that came the New Testament 
stories and parables. Assisted by my uncles, I began to collect a library 
in a box of birch-bark about nine inches square, which I found quite 
large enough to contain a great many immortal works, — " Jack 
the Giant-killer," and "Jack and the Bean-Stalk," and the "Yellow 
Dwarf," and " Blue Beard," and " Sinbad the Sailor," and " Beauty and 
the Beast," and " Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," with several- 
other of resembling character. 

Those intolerable nuisances, the usef id-knowledge books, had not 
yet arisen, like tenebrious stars, on the educational horizon, to darken 
the world, and shed their blighting influence on the opening intellect 
of the "youthhood" ; and so, from my rudimental books — books that 
made themselves truly such by their thorough assimilation with the 
rudimental mind — I passed on, without being conscious of break or 
line of division, to books on which the learned are content to write 
commentaries and dissertations, but which I found to be quite as nice 
children's books as an}^ of the others. Old Homer wrote admirably 
for little folk, especially in the " Odyssey " ; a copy of which, in the 
only true translation extant, — for, judging from its surpassing interest 
and the wrath of critics, such I hold that of Pope to be, — I found in 
the house of a neighbor. Next came the " Iliad " ; not, however, in a 
complete copy, but represented b}^ four of the six volumes of Bernard 
Lintot. With what power, and at how early an age, true genius im- 
presses ! I saw, even at this immature period, that no writer could 
cast a javelin with half the force of Homer. The missiles went whiz- 
zing athwart his pages ; and I could see the momentary gleam of the 
steel, ere it buried itself deep in brass and bull-hide. I next suc- 
ceeded in discovering for myself a child's book,' of not less interest 
than even the " Iliad," which might, I was told, be read on Sabbaths, 



HOW I LEARNED TO READ. 



in a magnificent old edition of " Pilgrim's Progress," printed on coarse, 
whity-brown paper, and charged with numerous woodcuts, each of 
which occupied an entire page, that, on principles of economy, bore 
letterpress on the other side. And such delightful prints as these were ! 
It must have been some such volume that sat for its portrait to Words- 
worth, and which he so exquisitely describes as 

" Profuse in garniture of wooden cuts, 
Strange and uncoutli ; dire faces, figures dire, 
Sharp-kneed, sharp-elbowed, and lean-ankled, too, 
With long and ghastly shanks, — forms, which, once seen, 
Could never be forgotten." 

In process of time, I had devoured, besides these genial works, 
" Robinson Crusoe," " Gulliver's Travels," " Ambrose on Angels," the 
judgment chapter in Howie's " Scotch Worthies," Byron's " Narrative," 
and the " Adventures of Philip Quarll," with a good many other adven- 
tures and voyages, real and fictitious, part of a very miscellaneous collec- 
tion of books made by my father. It was a melancholy little library to 
which I had fallen heir. Most of the missing volumes had been with 
the master aboard the vessel when he perished. Of an early edition 
of Cook's "Voyages," all the volumes were now absent save the 
first ; and a very tantalizing romance in four volumes, Mrs, Ratcliff's 
"Mysteries of Udolpho," was represented by only the earlier two. 
Small as the collection was it contained some rare books, — among the 
rest, a curious little volume entitled, "The Miracles of Nature and 
Art," to which we find Dr. Johnson referring in one of the dialogues 
chronicled by Bos well, as scarce even in his day, and which had been 
published, he said, some time in the seventeenth century by a bookseller 
whose shop hung perched on Old London Bridge, between sky and 
water. It contained, too, the only copy I ever saw of the " Memoirs of 
a Protestant condemned to the Galleys of France for his Religion," — 
a work interesting from the circumstance that, though it bore another 
name on its title-page, it had been translated from the French for a few 
guineas by poor Goldsmith in his days of obscure literary drudgery, 



10 LEARNING TO READ. 



and exhibited the peculiar excellences of his style. The collection 
boasted beside, of a very curious old book, illustrated by very uncouth 
plates, that detailed the perils and sufferings of an English sailor who 
had spent his best years of life as a slave in Morocco. It had its 
volumes of sound theology, too, and of stiff controversy, — Flavel's 
" Works," and Henry's " Commentary," and Hutchinson on the " Lesser 
Prophets," and a very old treatise on the " Revelation," with the title- 
oage away, and blind Jameson's volume on the " Hierarchy," with first 
editions of "Naphthali," " The Cloud of Witnesses," and " The Hind let 
Loose." But with these, solid authors I did not venture to grapple 
until long after this time. Of the works of fact and incident which it 
contained, those of the voyagers were my especial favorites. I perused 
with avidity the voyages of Anson, Drake, Raleigh, Dampier, and 
Captain Woods Rogers, and my mind became so filled with concep- 
tions of what was to be seen and done in foreign parts, that I wished 
myself big enough to be a sailor, that I might go and see coral islands 
and burning mountains, and hunt wild beasts and fight battles. 



Part I. 
THE ART OF READING. 



i^art I. 

CHAPTER II. 
THE ART OF READING.^ 

BEFORE planning her lessons in reading, the teacher will do well 
to review her own experience in reading, or to scan the diffi- 
culties which she has encountered in teaching other classes. A brief 
analysis of her experiences, both as a pupil and as a teacher, will 
reveal distinct lines of achievement in learning to read. These are 
illustrated in any act of reading. 

" The old familial' sights of ours 
Took marvelous shapes. Strange domes and towers 
Rose up where sty and corncrib stood, 
Or garden wall, or belt of wood. 
The bridle post an old man sat, 
With loose-flung coat and high-cocked hat. 
The wellciirl) had a Chinese roof, 
And even the tall sweep, high aloof, 
In its slant splendor seemed to tell 
Of Pisa's leaning miracle." 

To read, — that is, to get the meaning of these lines, or, if one 
reads aloud, to get and to give the meaning. One who truly reads 
" Snow-Bound " learns to see the scenes which Whittier so beauti- 
fully describes ; to see them as he saw them, with tender affection, 
and to interpret the deeper meaning of the lines of " homely toil and 
destiny obscure." Manifestly this involves much. On the surface, 
and first attracting the attention of the teacher, appears the obvious 

1 From « Reading : How to Teach It." — S. L. A. 



14 LEARNING TO READ. 



necessity of knowing the words at sight. Familiarity with the forms 
of the words used is indispensable to reading. This involves know- 
ing the sounds of the words, while the power to pronounce new words 
readily calls for knowledge of the laws of English pronunciation. 

In the minds of too many teachers of little children, such mastery 
of word pronunciation is held as reading. But this is a grievous error, 
which leads to narrow and mechanical work, and obscures the high 
purpose of real reading. Reference to the definition of reading, and 
a study of the selection from " Snow-Bound," will show us the proper 
value of this achievement, and its relation to true reading. The words 
are the vehicle of thought, a means to an end. Their mastery is in- 
dispensable to reading, but the reader must compass, not the single 
word-speaking, but the meaning of the related words which express 
tlie author's thought. Knowledge of the meaning of the words used, 
and especiall}' the meaning of the words as Whittier uses them, is 
necessary to a clear understanding of the poem. The reader who would 
understand the poem must know something of farm life — the sty and 
the corncrib, the garden wall, the wellcurb, the sweep, and the other 
accessories of the farm which Whittier names or describes. Plainly, 
too, his knowledge must extend further — to a Chinese roof, and Pisa's 
leaning miracle. To such knowledge, observation of common life must 
minister, coupled with the study of books and pictures. In other 
words, the reader interprets Whittier's " Snow-Bound " by virtue of 
his own experience, reenforced by the experience of others as written 
down in books, or pictured with brush or pen. To the formal word 
mastery, then, must be added study of the meaning of new words, or 
recalling such experience as explains the old. The content, as well as 
the form, of the word must be studied. 

Added to such study, is the general training which gives us power 
to picture the unknown, interpreting a new scene through its relation 
to our old experience. The ready and trained imagination easily 



THE ART OF READING 15 

pictures the scene which the words conjure before the mind — makes 
real the homestead, snowbound and comfort-filled. Reading may be 
so taught as to develop this power, which takes hold on things un- 
seen. No careful teaching of reading omits this. 

Here then are different phases of teaching reading : — mastery of 
the words, as to form and sound ; explanation of the meaning of new 
words, througli observation or reaxliug ; lessons which tend to develop 
power of imagination. 

The young child, who leaves his home and his play to enter upon 
the life of the schoolroom, finds a new world awaiting him, with mani- 
fold new experiences. Hitherto he has romped and rambled to his 
heart's content. All his friends and playmates have in turn been his 
teachers, albeit theirs has been an unconscious tuition. His lessons 
have been in the line of liis desires, or suggested by his natural en- 
vironment. Longfellow pictures the little Hiawatha in the arms of 
his first teacher, the loving old Nokomis — 

" At the door on Summer evenings 
Sat the little Hiawatha, 
Heard the whispering of the pine trees, 
Heard the lapping of the water — 
Sounds of music, words of wonder ; — 
Saw the moon rise from the water, 
Kippling, rounding from the water, 
Saw the flecks and shadows on it, 
Whispered, ' What is that, Nokomis ? ' 
And the good Nokomis answered — " 

The moon, the rainbow in the heaven, the Milky Way, the firefly, the 
owl and owlet, the beaver, the rabbit, the squirrel — these saluted the 
baby boy, and awakened his interest. "What is that?" he cried, 
with eager question. " And the good Nokomis answered." The little 



LEARNING TO READ. 



Hiawatha "learned of every bird its language." He was taught, not 
by old Nokomis alone, but by bird and beast, flower and field. 

So with every child who enters the schoolroom upon that fateful 
first Monday in September. He brings with him, not an empty head, 
but a mind stored with the memories of varied experiences. Just as 
the little Hiawatha gazed, pondered, questioned, learned — so this child 
has seen, has heard, has questioned, has thought, has acted. What 
he brings to school, who can tell? What has he seen and heard? 
What has he liked and desired? What has he questioned and learned? 
How little we know of this unwritten history ! And yet it determines 
the net result of all our teaching. For nothing which we attempt 
to teach finds lodgment in the child mind unless it is linked with some 
past experience, and awakens actual interest. Much of our reiterated 
instruction falls upon deaf ears, fails utterly to awaken the dormant 
interest, because it is ill chosen. We must know something about the 
life of the children before we can wisely teach them. 

The thoughtful teacher remembers this ti-uth and directs her work 
accordingly. Instead of rushing with lieadlong zeal into the routine 
of reading, writing, and number — under the impulsion of the Course 
of Study, and the memory of classes Avhich failed to "pass" — she 
makes haste slowly, and devotes the first days of the term to lessons 
which help to reveal the experience of the children. Observation of 
and talks about common things ; conversations which lead the children 
to tell what they can do, or like to do ; story telling ; picture drawing ; 
— tliese afford opportunity for expression, and serve to show the 
teacher something of her pupils' attainments, and the line of their 
interests as well. Meanwhile, they are becoming accustomed to the 
schoolroom routine, and so emerge from the period in which they gazed, 
dazed and dumb, at the many marvels with which this new school 
world is crowded. They come to know the teacher as their friend, 
and they become free and confident in her presence. Thus the true 



1 



THE ART OF READING. 17 



atmosphere of the schoolroom is created — the only atmosphere in 
which wholesome and natural teaching and learning can thrive. 

This is not a prodigal misuse of time. It is the part of thrift 
to so spend in the beginning, for the returns are evident in the ease 
and readiness with which pupils and teacher afterward work together 
— - the value of every lesson being enhanced by the mutual good will 
and understanding. 



The school differs from the home and the kindergarten in that its 
allotted tasks are evidently determined by a motive and plan outside 
the child's comprehension. In many cases this must be so. The 
lessons which involve the mastery of the symbols used in reading, 
writing and number, or the drill and practice necessary to attain skill 
in music or drawing or writing, have no self-evident goal for the child. 
So many lines, so many letters, so many problems, he attempts, because 
the teacher says so, and in his new universe the teacher is supreme. 
At home he has always chosen more or less ; so, too, in the kinder- 
garten his interest and choice determined the story or the game or 
the topic of conversation. He has delighted in building houses, model- 
ing balls, weaving mats, playing games — and all, so far as he knew, 
for his own immediate pleasure and accomplishment. Other results, 
to him unknown, were of course secured. He builded better than 
he knew. But in every case he rejoiced in some immediate accom- 
plishment which he desired. 

In too many cases the decreed exercises of the school are meaning- 
less and purposeless to the beginner. Such exercises easily degenerate 
into dull and fruitless routine, indifferent and profitless to teacher and 
pupil alike. To arouse desire and awaken conscious motive is the 
teacher's most important work, and in teaching reading it should re- 
ceive first consideration. She, therefore, after securing such freedom 

2 



18 LEARNING TO READ. 

and cooperation as promise a fertile soil for her seed-planting, calls 
the children about her to explain the purpose of the lessons which will 
fill their days. 

Perhaps she reads to them a story which they like, a new story which 
they have never heard. When she reaches the interesting climax she 
pauses to say, " I haven't time to read the rest of the story now. How 
I wish you could read ! Then you might take the book and read the 
story yourselves. Would you not like to learn to read, so that you 
could read stories like these ? " 

In Hugh Miller's graphic description of his childhood experience in 
reading, this element of purpose and desire is strongly emphasized. 
" The process of learning and acquiring had been a dark one," he says, 
recalling his struggles with letters and syllables. He " slowly mas- 
tered " these " in humble confidence in the awful wisdom of the school- 
mistress, not knowing whither it tended," — when (as a member of the 
Bible Class — "in the highest form ") his mind "awoke to the meaning 
of that most delightful of all narratives, the story of Joseph. Was there 
ever such a discovei'y made before? " 

Such testimony might be repeated a thousand times over, by our pu- 
pils of to-day — if they were able to describe their common experience. 

It was the first vision of the goal that gave meaning, motive, and 
conscious gladness to Hugh Miller's study. Such motive and such 
meaning should pervade the earliest lessons in reading, and should be 
consciously recognized by pupil as well as teacher. We repeat then : 
the teacher's first effort, after becoming acquainted with her children, 
is to awaken this conscious desire to read, and to secure intelligent 
cooperation in her exercises. 

One teacher suggests writing upon the board some sentence which 
has been whispered to her by the children, and then calling an older 
child from another room to read the secret. This is done again and 
again, until tlie children are eager to share the power which their com- 



THE ART OF READING. 



19 



rade possesses, and turn gladly to the tasks required of them, that they 
may the sooner reach their goal. 

There is a wide difference between such teaching and the routine 
drill which does not enlist the child's desire. The enthusiastic bicy- 
clist would smile if asked to exchange his morning ride to the city for 
an houi''s exercise upon a fixed " bicycle exerciser " in the back hall. 
Nor could the most skilful pedagogue convince him that the exercise 
involved in making the wheel go round is as valuable as the spin which 
carries him to his destination, through the fresh morning air, along 
roads bordered with flowered fields. Yet the contrast is no more 
marked than that between the task of the syllable-pronouncer, who 
obediently performs his meaningless labor, and that of the child who, 
with conscious and earnest desire, sets himself to learn to read. 



In order to give some sense of immediate achievement, the first 
lessons should be in sentences, expressing thoughts in which the chil- 
dren are interested. 



This is Kate. 
Kate can read. 
Kate has a book. 
Read to me, Kate. 
Kate can read. 
I can read, too. 
Kate has a book. 
I have a book, too. 
See Kate's book ! 
See my book ! 



Kate has a doll. 

I have a doll, too. 

Kate has a kitty. 

I have a dog. 

Kate likes her doll. 

I like my dog. 

See my dog ! 

See Kate's little kitty ! 

Come, little Kitty. 

Come to me, Kitty. 



20 LEARNING TO READ. 



The object of these preparatory lessons is to give some consciousness 
of the i:)urpose of reading, and some sense of achievement. The sen- 
tences are tlie children's, obtained in a conversation concerning Kate, 
who is an older pupil, or some pictured child. The sentence is the 
unit, and is read by the teacher. The children repeat the sentence 
after her reading. 

Of course these first efforts are not reading. They simply represent 
the children's memory of the teacher's words and tone. Often, when 
asked to read alone, the child dashes at the wrong sentence with his 
pointer, which vainly wanders in search of the right one. But just as 
tlie frequent observation of the loved story in the picture book not only 
fixes the words in their order, but enables the young listener to find 
some of them upon the page, so, by repetition of these first sentences, 
the words are at last held in the mind, and are recognized in new places 
and under new relations. The attentive eye will recognize the new 
words, first in their wonted place in the sentence, then when isolated. 
At first the words selected for repetition and recognition are those which 
present fewest difticulties. Not by any means the shortest words — as 
a, is, too — but the meaningful words, the nouns, and adjectives, and 
verbs which denote action. Kate, book, doll, dog, kitty — these are 
the first and easiest, in the lessons written above. Later, see and likes, 
with can read. Later still, I have, this is — while is and a will not 
be emphasized as units until the eyes have been trained to distinguish 
more readily, and the words have become familiar through constant 
repetition. 

Such lessons should continue for several weeks, introducing the 
various dear and oft-seen objects of the child's environment, and the 
actions with which he has long been familiar. Tlie sentences should be 
worth reading, and grouped in coherent paragraphs. Drill in recog- 
nizing the words should follow the sentence reading, in every day's 
lesson. 



THE ART OF READING. 21 

When the children can recognize at sight a vocabulary of one hundred 
or two hundred words, they should begin to compare them, and to j^lace 
in groups those which are alike in sound. For example : book, look, 
and brook, are known, — red and fed, cat, hat, and pat — Fan, ran, 
can, and Dan. Placed in lists, their similarity is evident. 



book 


fed 


cat 


Fan 


. look 


red 


hat 


ran 


brook 
took 


bed 


pat 
sat 


can 
Dan 

7nan 



Some one volunteers to increase the list, adding took, bed, sat, and 
man. Here is the beginning of the analysis of words into their sounds, 
and with this lesson a new feature appears in our word study. 

Such lessons in sentence reading as have been suggested, if continued 
long enough and with sufficient discretion on the part of the teacher, 
might enable a class to read independently — for, even without the 
teacher's direction, obvious likenesses and differences in words are 
noted by the children, and rules are deduced therefrom. But the 
mastery of a large vocabulary is readily secured only through attention 
to the common laws of pronunciation, and familiarity with the sound 
units. Thus far every word has been presented as a new unit. Now 
the children should learn that these words are like many others in form, 
and that the pronunciation of one serves as a key to the many. Know- 
ing book, all monosyllables ending in ook can at once enter their vocab- 
ulary of recognizable words ; knowing Fan, all monosyllables with the 
an ending are known. The missing factor is the knowledge . of the 
sounds of the separate letters, which are initials in these group words — 
m-an F-an c-an r-an t-an p-an. At this juncture these sounds 
should be taught. 



22 LEARNING TO READ. 



There has been some question among teachers as to the time for 
teaching sounds of the letters. It is wise to defer this teaching until 
the children have acquired some little facility in reading, and under- 
stand its purpose, that their work may not be approached from the 
mechanical side solely. Again, the vocabulary which the children 
already know reveals the groups of similar words and suggests the wis- 
dom of analysis and classification. And further, the too early attempt 
to study the lists of similar words and to select and emphasize them for 
use in reading, drives the children at once to their most difficult task. 
It is much easier to recognize Hiawatha and arrow, because they are 
long and different, and seem hard, than to name promptly the elusive 
can, ran, and tan, which seem so easy and yet are so nearly alike as to 
be formidable obstacles to the success of the untrained observer. The 
climax of objection is reached when we cite the tendency to make sen- 
tences solely for the sake of using certain words, thus destroying the 
element of thought value in the sentence. " Does the fat rat see the 
cat on the mat ? " is far more difficult for a child than is " Hiawatha 
lived in a wigwam with old Nokomis " — for the reasons above named. 

The mastery of words is an essential element in learning to read. 
Our common mistake is, not that we do such work too well, but that 
we make it the final aim of the reading lesson, and lead the children to 
feel that they can read when they are merely able to pronounce words. 
Perhaps lack of careful attention to the form of words is quite as serious 
a mistake, for it results in carelessness in reading. 

The study of form and of sound should be associated, but attention 
to sound alone should precede any attempt to master the form as sug- 
gesting sound. Children should be taught to recognize and to distin- 
guish sounds, to repeat them accurately, to speak them distinctly, before 
they are taught to copy the single characters which represent these 
sounds. To hear, to repeat, to compare, to distinguish sounds, should 
be the order of the instruction. 



1 



THE ART OF READING. 23 

Careless speech and indistinct articulation often arise from imperfect 
hearing, or indifferent attention to what is said. Children should be 
trained in the early lessons to hear, and to repeat, exactly what is said. 
The repetition is a test of the child's hearing. Begin with short sen- 
tences. Speak them clearly, in a moderate voice, requiring tiie children 
to repeat after once hearing. Gradually increase the length of sentence, 
but do not increase the volume of voice ; speak distinctly, and expect 
the children to be attentive enough to hear an ordinary tone ; teach 
them to respond in the same tone, with clear articulation. Continue 
this exercise until a long sentence can be accurately returned ; then 
pronounce lists of words beginning with letters which demand careful 
articulation. When these have been mastered, draw attention to ini- 
tial sounds, and then to the letters which represent them. Work Avith 
these until every letter suggests its sounds to the pupils, whether in a 
new 01' in a familiar word. With little children, the sound should be 
taught first in connection with initial letters always. A successful 
device consists in allowing each pupil to represent a certain sound. If 
the sound is the initial sound in his own name, it will be easy for the 
children to remember. Thus — John can always suggest the sound of 
j, Mary the sound of m, Peter the sound of p, and so on. A class of 
children aided in this way will master the sounds of the letters in a 
very short time. 

Having learned, through the initials, the sounds which various letters 
represent, the next step will be to analyze phonosyllables into their 
sounds. Select first those containing short vowels, in order to avoid 
the difficulty of the silent letter. The preliminary di-ill with the initials 
will have made this step an easy one to take. 

Whenever a type word is represented, as — black, for example, the 
children should be taught to suggest other words which rhyme with the 
pattern, as — crack, back, lack, etc. If in every such case the com- 
mon element is studied and mastered, in a few weeks the children will 



24 LEARNING TO READ. 



become j)ossessors of a large vocabulary, whose basis is the few common 
words which they have studied. Every type word will stand for a list 
of words similar in form. 

This study of sounds should continue through at least the first five 
school years. After analyzing any word into its separate sounds, the 
children should be required to name other known words which resem- 
ble the one studied. This Avill tend to a habit of classification which 
will recall the known word, which helps the student to master the 
new one. 

Diacritical marks are a help in mastering new words, if the key 
words have been studied in connection with the marks. They are 
needed also in consulting the dictionary for pronunciation. They 
should be taught only when necessary to the pronunciation. In 
older classes, after the use of the dictionary becomes necessary, a com- 
plete list should be mastered. It is a mistake to insist upon diacritical 
marking when the children can pronounce accurately without. I 
remember hearing a teacher chide a pupil for reading a sentence before 
she had time to mark the vowels, but, since the child could and did 
read without such help, the marking was evidently unnecessary. It 
serves as a means to an end, and should be dispensed with when the 
end can be reached Avithout such artificial aid. 

As a matter of fact, every child refers a new word back to a similar 
word with which he has become familiar. Thus — black, once mas- 
tered, serves as a key to tack, crack, quack, etc. The only elements 
in these words are the final element ack and the initial sounds. If a 
child hesitates with a new word, help him to refer at once to the type 
word which he has already mastered. Instead of pronouncing the new 
word for him, insist upon liis using for himself his own stock of knowl- 
edge. Help him only where he cannot help himself. If he forms the 
habit of referring the unknown to the kindred known, he will become 
independent in study. For example — to a six-years-old child the word 



THE ART OF READING. 26 

blacksmith may, at first sight, appear formidable. Separated into 
its parts and referred to the simple words already mastered, the child 
conquers the newcomer, and adds it to his list of servants. He is 
endowed with new strength, because he has mastered something which 
seemed to him hard. Such conquests, often repeated, lead to strength 
and independence. In many cases, it is wise to leave a child to wrestle 
with a word which at first sight he fails to master. Of course this 
process is unwise if he has no experience to which he can refer for help. 
Guess-work will never take the place of thought, and a child should 
not be driven to guess at the pronunciation, but everj^ attempt should 
be based upon something whicli he has been taught in former lessons. 
Such practice will lead to thoughtful self-help. 

This work may be facilitated by many devices. We have seen 
classes hunting for new words beginning with a given sound, as eagerly 
as if they were playing hide and seek. Or with the utmost enjoyment 
they have made lists of words .beginning with chosen sounds ; or 
matched pairs of words which rhymed. But their most valuable 
exercise is that in which the old familiar word of their first vocabulary 
is made the key which unlocks the new. 

Now, when a new word is presented, the teacher no longer pro- 
nounces it for the children, but asks instead, " What word helps you to 
pronounce it ? " Bright is not a new word, because the children know 
light, remember the sound of br, and put their two bits of knowledge 
together to meet the new emergency. They do for themselves what 
the teacher has heretofore done for them. 

A most helpful form of word study, which is suitable for desk work, is 
making lists of words containing the same sound. It strengthens the 
liabit of classification, and helps in spelling and in the recognition of 
new words. 

The most difficult work for children appears in words which are spelled 
alike and pronounced differently, or in words pronounced alike and 



^6 LEARNING TO READ. 



spelled differently, or in the various equivalents of tlie same sound which 
our language affords. Chair, their, wfleu^ etd/ sugg^t the problems 
of this nature. This work should be introduced not" earlier than the 
third or fourth year. It should come in connection with the spell- 
ing lesson, and not with the reading. The mastery of these diffi- 
culties in English spelling doubtless requires many months of careful 
teaching. 

It must not be forgotten that children are hindered and not helped 
by any attempt to spell by sound, words which are unique in spelling. 
Through, for example, should be learned by sigJit,,and not by sound. 
Beautiful, tongue, physique — may illustrate this group. The eye, 
and not tlie car, nuist be depended upon in the mastery of such words. 
Care should be taken to develop the habit of accurate attention through 
the eye as well as the ear. Any attempt to mark the sounds in these 
words increases the labor without increasing facility. If the teacher 
makes a careful classification of the ordinary words which frequently 
recur in the reading lesson, she will discover the class which must be 
mastered by sight. Out of the remainder she can make lists which 
include the ordinary type sounds. The study of these lists will reduce 
the labor of word master}^ to its minimum, and the habit of comparison 
developed through this study will go far to make the children inde- 
pendent in the pronunciation of new words. 

For diacritical marks and correct pronunciation, the teacher is 
referred to the standard dictionaries. It should not be forgotten that 
the teacher's pronunciation is a guide to the pupil. She needs a qiii(;lv 
ear and the careful judgment which will render her a safe guide. 
The familiar rule should direct her practice. AVhen in doubt, consult 
the dictionary. 

Note the value of this word mastery. The pupil fast becomes inde- 
pendent of the teacher, and ready to master the page for himself. 
Note, also, that this power becomes his in proportion to the teacher's 



THE ART OF READING. 27 

purpose to make him self-helpful, aud her skill in finding the connect- 
ing' link between the new knowledge and the old. 

It is self-evident that this plan can be pursued only when the words 
are amenable to common phonic laws. Cough, and its congeners, 
should be named as new wholes. So with all words which follow no 
rule, and must be pronounced by substitution. No time should be lost 
by attempting a method which has no excuse for being, in such cases. 
In its place, as a help to the mastery of groups of kindred words, it is 
invaluable. Out of place, it is bad. 

Two elements of learning to read have been presented here : 
sentence reading and word mastery. Of the study of the meaning of 
the words and the development of the power of imagination we shall 
sj)eak elsewhere. 



Part 11. 

THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. 



^avt 11. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 
Suggestions to Teachers. 



THE FIRST LESSON WITH THE BOOK. 



l" 



IT is assumed that the teacher 
whose chiss is undertaking the 
initial lessons in reading has already '^ 
prepared the way for the book, '•ms 
by language lessons and by ^^^iw. 
reading from the blackboard. The 
children have gained some idea of 
the purpose of reading, and can already 
read a number of simple sentences 
which have been written upon 

the board or paper. Now comes r ^ 

If 
the happ3^ day when the book is 

placed in their hands. 

Tills should be considered by both 
teacher and pupil a most eventful day. 
When Mrs. Wesley taught her children 
their letters, she dressed them in their best 
clothes, and they sat in state, in happy antici- 
pation of the great event. Doubtless their rapid 




33 LEARNING TO READ. 



acquisition of the alphabet was largely due to the deep impi-essiou 
which the mother thus made upon them. Commonplace as the routine 
lesson may appear to the teacher, she should not forget that the first 
study of the book opens the door into book-land for tlie children. 
She should make the day a happy one, and emphasize this new be- 
ginning which points so hopefully to future achievement. 

The class awaits the distribution of the new books with eager antici- 
pation. A few words from the teacher suggest to the children the value 
of the book, the care which should be exercised in handling it, the 
virtue of clean hands, the objection to marks and blots, curled edges 
and torn j)ages. But when the treasures are once in the hands of 
the pupils, she allows them to turn the pages at their own sweet will, 
to look at the pictures, and to express their delight in their new posses- 
sion. Perhaps she calls the little ones about her and shows them how to 
open and to hold the book, how to turn the page, how to find new pages. 
She talks with them about some of the pictures in which they are inter- 
ested, and then bids them search for words which they already know. 

It is much more difficult for little children to read from the printed 
page, meanwhile holding the book and " keeping their j^lace," than 
to read the same sentence from the board as it has just appeared 
beneath the teacher's crayon. It is the part of wisdom, therefore, 
to acquaint the children with the few words upon the first pages 
of the book, before they are introduced to these pages. Until the 
manipulation of the book becomes easy, and the pupils have learned 
to find and to follow the lines upon the page, the sentences should 
present the least possible difficulty in themselves. It is supposed, 
then, that the children who take the First Reader into their hands 
have already read from the board the sentences found upon the first 
ten pages, at least, and know the words and phrases which are included 
in these sentences. If this is the case, they will read all that is found 
upon these pages in the first two or three days after the book is given 
them. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 33 



IT. 

THE FIRST VOCABULARY. 

The first twenty-four pages of the First Reader of " Stepping Stones 
to Literature " contain lessons which are intended to be mastered by 
the chikben with the help of the teacher, by the so-called " word and 
sentence " method, without any attempt at phonic analysis. The rea- 
sons for this mode of proceeding have been given in the previous 
chapter. During these lessons, therefore, the children will acquire 
little power to master new words independently. Their attention has 
not yet been called to the structure of the individual word. Stress has 
been laid, and intentionally, upon the meaning of the word, the form 
of the sentence, and the thought expressed by it. It may be a simple 
matter to present to children a dozen things at once, but it does not 
follow that they understand everything which is presented to them. 
The writer has seen so much difficulty in reading that arose from the 
child's complete misconception of the object of reading, so much crude, 
helpless, and blundering work due to the complete lack of meaning 
in the exercise, that she has come to firmly believe that the first and 
most important duty of the teacher of reading is to emphasize its one 
aim — thought-getting. To this end, she is willing even to lose time 
(or seem to lose time) in the first few weeks of the child's school life, 
in the effort to give a clear conception of this i:)urpose, rather than 
to fix in the mind of botli pupil and teacher, as a goal, the power 
of word pronouncing. 

Therefore, no attempt lias been made to select for the vocabulary 
of these first pages words which are alike in sound. Nouns have been 
chosen for their intrinsic interest. They name familiar objects which 
all children like ; the verbs, as far as possible, express action ; the 
adjectives are descriptive. The forms of the words are varied. It 

3 



LEARNING TO READ. 



is easier to distinguish words wliich are markedly different from one 
another than to recognize those which present slight differences merely. 
Do you like bread and milk, Fan ? is easier to read than Does the 
fat cat see the rat on the mat ? Furthermore, to insist upon a 
phonic vocahulary, at this stage, would so limit the range of sentences 
as to make the lessons mechanical, and largely eliminate any free 
expression of thought. 

The words used, however, are such as will serve in the future 
as type words, in the various phonic lists which the children must 
learn. The study of phonics is simply postponed, that it may be 
subordinate to the chief end in reading, and the teacher is asked to 
use these first pages without effort to emphasize that phase of word 
mastery. That will come later, in its rightful place. Meanwhile, 
the child is unconsciously mastering a vocabulary which will serve 
as a basis for his classification and analysis, later. 

III. 

THE FIRST SERIES OF LESSONS. 

These lessons deal Avith familiar objects and interests, — Kate, Ben, 
Fan, Kitty, the cup, the ball, bread and milk. The sentences are 
simple. The illustrations are clear and attractive, and will serve well 
as a basis of conversation. Every sentence which occurs in tlie lessons 
may be readily secured in a natural conversation with the children. 

Who is this ? 

This is Kate. 

Who is this ? 

This is Ben. 

And who is this ? 

This is Fan. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 35 

One who observes little children as they look at their picture-books, 
will discover that their sentences are a simple and natural enu- 
meration of the objects in the picture. The introductory sentences, 
therefore, follow the line of least resistance. This is should be 
one of the least difficult forms for the initial sentences. ■ 

See is next in difficulty. It recognizes a hearer. See Kitty, Ben, 

see Kitty. Then a conversation about little Kate secures from the 

children the sentences : 

Kate likes Kitty. 

Kate likes Ben. 

Kate likes Fan. 

The conversations should be carried on in the ordinary speaking 
voice, with cheery tones. The reading, on the child's part, is thus far 
a repetition of the sentences which form a part of the conversation. 
It is essential that conversational tones should be secured from the 
beginning. The attempt to sound and decipher every word of the 
first sentences places the emphasis upon each separate word, and causes 
the slow, expressionless, machine-like reading with which we are all 
familiar. The drill upon the separate words may come afterward ; 
but at first it is better to let the pupil imitate the easy rendering of 
the sentences until he is accustomed to the easy and fluent movement 
of the sentence. After this movement has been secured with a few 
simple sentences, he may be set to dig out a few sentences made up of 
familiar words. There will not be, at this stage, so much danger of 
fixing the slow and stumbling habit of speech. 

Page eight presents a scene full of action. The picture may easily 
be made the basis of a dozen lessons upon the blackboard. 

See Ben ! See the kitty ! See Kate ! See the ball ! 

What is Ben doing ? What is Kitty doing ? Do you think Ben 
will get the ball? Will Kitty get it? 

How fast Ben runs ! How fast Kitty runs ! Can t/ou run ? 



36 LEARNING TO READ. 



Tell me noAv what Ben can do. 

Ben can run. 

What can Kitty do ? ' 

Kitty can run. 

Here is Kate, too. I wonder if she can run. 

Can Kate run ? 

Can Fan run ? 

Tell Ben to run. 
Run, Ben! 

Tell Kitty to run. 

Run, Kitty, run ! 

Now the cliiklren may study out the next long sentence : Ben and 
Kitty like to run. 

It will be well, after the conversation and the first reading of the 
separate sentences, to have each child read the entire lesson. The 
questions and statements afford opportunity for a variety of natural 
inflections. 

Page nine introduces the ball and the cup. The familiar this 
appears in a new place in the sentence. Every teacher knows the 
difficulty which the children find in recognizing a familiar word 
where the initial changes from tlie capital to the small letter, and vice 
versa. The word-study should include enough drill to make the 
change evident to the children. 

Page ten introduces a really diificult word, — the pronoun you. 
Now the conversation is most effective. 

Can you see Fan ? Tell her so. 

I see you, Fan. 

The ^ expression " cannot fail to be good, if the child naturally 
addresses Fan and Ben. 



Ben, can you see Fan ? 
Fan, can you see Ben? 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING 37 

Page eleven repeats the thought of page eiglit, introducing the new 
words get and good. Nearly all the sentences are addressed to Ben, 
who should be foremost in the imagination of the child as he is read- 
ing. If he really talks to Ben, he will read easily and well. 

Page twelve introduces a new word expressing action — jump. 
Such words are easy. But the pronoun my is more difficult. It 
should be taught in connection with nouns. 

Whose pencil is this ? 

My pencil. 

Whose book is this ? 

This is my book. ' 

After enough oral practice to emphasize the meaning of the word, 
it may be tauglit in connection with the lesson. 

Me is easily added to the vocabulary in connection with the lesson 

on page thirteen. 

I like Fan, and Fan likes me. 
I like Kitty, and Kitty likes me. 
I like Ben, and Ben likes me. 

The word should not be made emphatic. 

Of, and, and to occur on the next pages. Great care should be 
taken to prevent the false emphasis which comes from presenting these 
words as isolated wholes. They never appear without other words ; 
they should alwaj^s be taught in phrases. (The rendering should 
be " bread-and-milk," not "bread, — and, — milk"; " good-to-eat," 
not "good, — to, — eat") 

Page sixteen presents a pleasing form of review for drill on the 
vocabular}^ required. Every child should master every word now. 

Whatever book or lesson is used at this stage, the teacher should 
supplement it by rapid and varied lessons upon the board. These 
have the added value of appearing newly made before the eyes of 
the children. The freshness always adds to the interest. 



38 



LEARNING TO READ. 



If the lessons are presented upon the board before the children 
attempt to read them from the book, abundant repetition may be pro- 
vided which will help to fix the words in mind. Such word lessons 
are indispensable to the early teaching of reading. They afford oppor- 
tunity for frequent repetition, with variety. Any book lesson in per- 
manent form is quickly memorized by the children, and a sentence 
once memorized is useless as a test. 




Ben is a good dog. 

I like Ben and Ben likes me. 

See Ben rnn ! See him run ! 

Run, Ben ! Get the ball. 

He can get the ball. 

Ben likes to run and jump. 

Ben and I can run and jump. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 39 

IV. 

SILENT READING. 

On page twenty-four occurs an exercise whose object is not simply 
to test the chiklren's perception of the thought, but to help them 
to realize that the chief object of reading is to enable them to get 
the meaning of the sentences. Their answers should be spoken in 
sentences. 

Kitty can jump. 
Ben can run. 
Kate can read. 
' Fan eats grass. 
Ben eats meat. 
Baby likes to play. 
I like to play ball. 
Kate likes to read. 

Multiply these exercises. Write the questions upon slips of paper, 
distribute them to the children, and ask tliem to read the question 
and to give the answer in turn. Such an exercise affords variety 
which is alwa3's pleasing to children, and, further, serves as a test 
of their power to get the meaning of the question. The questions 
may also serve to introduce new words into the children's reading 
vocabulary. 

The following lisf will suggest a variety of questions : 

Have you a ball ? 
Is your ball little ? 



40 LEARNING TO READ. 



Where is your ball '? 

Do you like to play ball 1 

Can Ben play ball '? 

Do you like dogs ? 

Have you a dog ? 

Does your dog like to play 1 

Can you run ? 

Do you like to run? 

Can Ben jump ? 

Does Ben like to jump ] 

Does Fan like Ben? 

Can Fan play with Ben? 

Does Fan Hke Kitty 1 

Can Kitty play with the ball ? 

Does Baby like bread and milk ? 

Can Baby eat bread '? 

Can Baby drink milk 1 

Can Baby see Fan 1 

Is Fan good to the baby 1 

Is old Fan in the held ? 

Can you run in the field ? 

Can you play in the field ? 

Do you like to play in the field ? 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 41 



Can you play in the brook 1 

Do you like to play in tlie brook 1 

01(1 Fan drinks from the brook. 

Can you drink water from the brook ? 

Do you see Fan and Baby ? 

Do you see Ned 1 

Can Ned play ball ? 

Has Ned a good ball ? 

Does Ned like to play with Ben 1 

Can Ned milk Fan ? 

Can you find Ned's ball ? 

Is Ned's ball like your ball ] 



V. 



SENTENCES TO BE COMPLETED. 

On page eighteen, a new exercise is introduced wliicli may be made 
veiy profitable. Obviously, no one can fill the blanks in the sentences 
without first being able to pronounce the written words and give their 
meaning. Such exercises, then, serve as a test of the children's mastery 
of the wprds used, and also afford a pleasing variety for seat work. 
The exercise seems like a game to the children, and they enter into it 
with the spirit of play. Cards, or slips, upon which such broken sen- 
tences are written, may be made very useful, both for seat work and for 
varying tlie class exercise in reading. 



42 



LEARNING TO READ. 




Types of incomplete sentences to he completed hy the children 



Baby old Fan. 

Fan gives to Baby. 

Fan water. 

Baby lias a ball. 

Ned plays in tlie . 

He likes to play . 

Ben is doo:. 

He can and . 

Our Kate Ben. 



Kate likes 
Kate can - 



and 



I like to drink 

Fan eats . 

Kate eats and 

Kitty eats . 

Ben likes — 



and 



Ned can play 

Fan is a cow 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 43 



VI. 



DIFFICULT WORDS. 

The words which really hinder the children in tlieir reading, are the 
little words having no appreciable meaning to the yonng learners. 
Prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, copulative verbs, articles and 
expletives are necessary links in the sentence, but are difficult to master 
as units. These words sliould be taught in connection with the nouns 
or verbs with which they are associated in llie sentence. Constant 
repetition makes them familiar. After they are recognized with some 
ease and readiness, lists should be made upon the board, and at the 
period of word study these lists should be repeated by the children 
until immediate recognition and accuracy in pronunciation are assured. 
The common mistake is to suppose that the longer the word, the more 
difficult the mastery. The teacher's experience, however, goes to jjrove 
that it is the little word which causes stund)ling and prevents clear 
recognition of the thought. The teacher should carefully note the 
words which occasion stumbling, and, having selected those wliich fre- 
quently recur in the reading lessons and therefore must necessarily be 
learned, should give time to drill upon this selected list. A chart may 
be prepared, and a daily repetition required, or the lists may be placed 
upon cards, which are distributed to the children to be used in a variety 
of ways, as tlie teacher may direct. The point is, that, while these 
seemingly unimportant words are without emphasis in the reading, they 
should receive particular attention in the word study and drill, so that 
the ordinary stumbling and hesitation may be prevented. 



44 LEARNING TO READ. 

VII. 

THE BEGINNING OF PHONICS. 

On page twenty-five, lessons upon the sounds of the letters make their 
appearance. Reference to the chapter upon The Art of Reading 
will show the relation of these lessons to the other exercises in reading. 
It is time now for the children to know the sounds of the letters, that 
they may help themselves in the pronunciation of new words. The 
device which has been adopted to aid them in this exercise is partly old 
and partly new. Pages 25, 26, 27, and 28 contain a child's table of 
reference. The letters are arranged in alphabetical order. With each 
letter appears a word chosen because that letter indicates its initial 
sound. In pronouncing a word, the child must first make the sound 
for which the letter stands. The short sounds of the vowels have been 
used because they occur most frequently in the child's early vocabulary 
in reading. The pictures have been placed beside the word to add 
interest, and to help the children in their first rendering of the word. 
Nouns have been chosen, in every instance. Tlie words in this list are 
not intended to be sounded by the children. Their phonic analysis 
will extend in this case only to the initial letter. 

The pupils should be drilled upon this list until they can give the 
sound of every letter without reference to the table. Should they fail 
to give the proper sound in their later work, they should be refei'red to 
the table to find it, tlius beginning self-help in the use of books. The 
teacher wlio adopts a different vocabulaiy for the early lessons may 
make a table which will be more helpful to herself, but the writer is 
convinced that sucli help at this stage is very valuable. Its worth 
appears in proportion as the children are made to depend" upon them- 
selves in their exercises, and to refer to the table when they need help. 
The sounding or phonic analysis of words which admit of such analysis, 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 



45 



should become a part of their exercise in word study at this stage, 
and the children should be urged to use their new knowledge in 
pronouncing new words, depending as far as possible upon themselves, 
and asking the teacher's aid only as a last resort. 



Sounds of the Letters. 

apple ] baby 

a A \ b B 




c C 



cup 





fy-X\ 



do 



(Y 




(1 D 




e E 







fish 



f F 



46 LEARNING TO REAC 



VIII. 

THE USE OF RHYMES. 

Pages thirty and fifty-one introduce exercises in word study in 
which the rhyme is called into service. Observation of children's early 
use of picture books teaches us that many young readers learn to recog- 
nize words tlirough their place in the rhyme. Who does not remember 
reading the rhymed story to the eager child-listener, who followed the 
words upon the page with liis index finger, and named aloud each word 
at the end of the line ? It was not long before he could recognize all 
the rhymed words at the end of the line, and, later, he became able to 
name prominent words in the line, reciting from memory, and pointing 
to the words in order, as lie recited. The writer has often made use of 
this natural tendency of the children, in teaching classes to read, and 
has found that many words which would otherwise seem difficult to 
learn, are easily acquired and added to the child's reading vocabulary if 
they are found in memorized rhymes. The device is mechanical, of 
course. It simply makes use of something which the child likes to do, 
and turns it to account in the acquisition of the early vocabulary. 

On page thirty, appears the familiar rhyme : 



One, two, three, four, five, 

I caught a hare ahve. 
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 



I let him go again. 



Most of the children have already memorized this nursery jingle. If 
they have not, it will be quickly committed to memory. After they 
know it — not lefore — let them point to the words as they read them, 
one by one ; then ask them to find the words, skipping about, without 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING-. 47 



regard to order ; recognize the same words upon the top or bottom of 
the page, and afterwards require them in their busy work to write the 
words beside the corresponding figures. Most of the words will recur 
frequently in the child's reading ; the others need not be emphasized 
until their recurrence makes this necessary. The figures should be 
utilized at once in finding the pages of the Reader. 

On page fifty-one, the exercise is carried farther. The well-known 
rhyme, "Jack and Jill," appears, with appropriate illustration. The 
children are supposed to have memorized the rhyme before attempting 
the word study. Having memorized it, they find the different words in 
the rhyme, from their position, naming tliem one by one. After they 
can readily find them, new words are introduced which rhyme with the 
words found in the lesson. Here is an occasion for turning back to the 
alphabetical list, in order to discover the sound of the initial letter. 
The child who knows the word Jill and knows the alphabetical sounds, 
ought to be able to pronounce fill for himself. Tell ought to be easily 
conquered by the child who knows fell ; let is pronounced easily after 
get is known ; lame is easy after came is mastered, and so on. 

The exercise is intended to be suggestive of a type of word study 
which is always fraught with interest to the children. Teachers will 
note that the words which are made useful in the rhymes are the so- 
called type-words which appear as representatives of a family, or class 
of words. Tumbling and after are ignored, but went stands for the 
group which includes bent — sent — dent — lent — pent — rent — tent 
— scent, etc. and therefore is an acquisition not to be despised. It is 
hoped that the teacher will make frequent use of such exercises, placing 
upon the board the familiar nursery rhymes, and underlining the words 
which may serve the children as indicated in this exercise. 

It should perhaps be said that these two pages afford material for 
several lessons, and that the teacher should not attempt to complete the 
indicated study at one period. 



48 LEARNING TO READ. 



IX. 

READING AND DRAWING. 

Any exercise which gives reality to the thought in the sentence 
is an aid in teaching reading. The picture which illustrates the story 
serves this purpose. Teachers are urged, therefore, to encourage a, free 
use of the ]:)encil in illustrating sentences. Children are ordinarily 
very ready to express their thoughts with a pencil, and their drawings 
may be made very helpful to the teacher. They reveal the child's 
notion of the thought in the sentence, and often show his mistaken 
ideas, thus giving the teacher an opportunity to correct them. They 
are a fair indication, too, of the pupil's real interest, and always de- 
serve the teacher's careful study. Whenever the lesson will afford 
such opportunity, the children should be encouraged to draw the 
picture suggested to them by the sentence. 

Old Fan is in the field. 
My ball is under the table. 
Baby has a cup of milk. 
Kitty likes to play with Ben. 
Jack and Jill went up the hill. 
The mother hen has five chickens. 
Our house is a farmhouse. 
Jack can draw a load of hay. 
I like to ride on the hay. 
Ben can swim in the water. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 49 



The robin has a nest in the tree. 

Ned found the robin's nest. 

Mary had a little lamb. 

It followed her to school one day. 

The little flower grows in the field 

The little fish swims in the sea. 

The bear lives in the w^oods. 

Jack can sail a boat. 

The boat sails on the water. 

Jack's home is near the sea. 

Mary's lamb eats from her hand. 

After a limited vocabulary has been mastered, the teacher can make 
frequent use of such exercises, for silent reading at the desks, the 
children reading the sentences to themselves and drawing the pictures 
which they represent. They invarial)ly enjoy such exercises, and the 
pencil interpretation is often more satisfactory than the oral reading. 

X. 

GROUPS OF SIMILAR WORDS. 

The teacher should employ the words of the lesson to extend the 
vocabulary. Smile becomes smiles by the addition of s ; speak 
becomes speaks ; take becomes takes, and hand is changed to hands. 
Let sucli exercises in word drill be multiplied until the children 
become able to pronounce a group of related words, after having 
the single one presented to them. All regular plurals can be taught 



50 LEARNING TO READ. 



in this way, after the singular has been presented : so with the various 
derivatives which occur in adjective or verb forms. Walk, walks, 
walking, sidewalk ; speak, speaks, speaker, speaking, — may serve to 
suggest the possibilities of this exercise. 

As far as possible, the exercises in word study which are intended to 
increase the vocabulary should be referred back to the known words 
which occur in the reading lessons, so that the children may be enabled 
to use those words as the key to the other groups, and to search in the 
present treasure for the word which will unlock the new sentence to 
them. This habit of working for themselves, of depending upon them- 
selves, is invaluable, and it should be developed, even at the expense 
of seemingly slow progress in the beginning. To pronounce a word 
for the child is quicker work than to help him pronounce it for himself, 
but it is not serviceable for the next lesson ; while the power acquired 
by his own doing makes him master of countless pages. 

Throughout the book, occasional lessons in word study have been 
suggested, whenever a list of words has been given with endings like 
a representative found in the lesson. These are simply typical, and it 
is well to use other words in the same way. Whenever the children 
build such lists in independent exercises, without the immediate 
direction of the teacher, they should read tliem afterward, in order that 
slie may judge whether the work has been done intelligently. The 
exercise is much more valuable when it is thus tested. 

All primary teachers know that the words of, it, if, from, who, 
there, and their kindred, are often obscurely or carelessly pronounced 
by the young readers. These should be made a subject of frequent 
and careful drill. All teachers of beginners are also familiar with 
the difficulty presented when the capital is introduced in a word which 
has been hitherto one beginning with the small letter. An excellent 
exercise to overcome this difficulty is a drill in writing, beginning the 
words in both ways. First begin with the small letter, and tlien with 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 51 

the capital. Inasmuch as any Avord may present this difficulty when 
it occurs at the beginning of a sentence, the trouble is a frequent one, 
and such drill will go far to remove it. 

Page sixty-two and others present lists of rhymes. It will be under- 
stood that many of these words will never appear in the vocabulary 
of the lessons. These exercises are intended merely for word study. 

XI. 

LANGUAGE LESSONS WITH READING. 

In another chapter, the relation of the language lessons to the read- 
ing lessons is discussed at some length. The lesson upon page 38 
presents an opportunity for an observation lesson which will serve 
to increase the interest in the reading, and will, furthermore, supply 
material for many reading lessons. Obviously, a talk upon birds will 
bring to the minds of the children whatever knowledge they have 
gained on the subject, and will show the teacher whether any pupils 
are unprepared for the lesson. These lessons were intended both for 
the children who know the robin and for those who do not, but in the 
latter case the preparatory lessons should be given in which the children 
do observe the robin, the nest, and the egg, or approach this as nearly 
as possible. Several primary teachers whom the writer has known 
well ire accustomed to take their pupils into the woods to observe the 
birds. Where this is impossible, the English sparrow is omnipresent 
and can serve as a type for the city bird life. The children watch the 
sparrow : tell how large he is ; what his color is ; what he can do ; what 
they have seen him do; where he builds his nest ; how he builds it; of 
what material he makes it ; how he feeds his little birds ; how they beg 
for food ; Avhat the sparrows have for breakfast ; what they use instead 
of knife, fork, spoon, and plate; how the sparrow's home differs from the 



52 



LEARNING TO READ. 



home of the chiklreu, etc. Such observation lessons give the children 
a fund of material for expression, and the lessons upon the board are 
very valuable at this time. All the knowledge gained in regard to the 
sparrow will serve to interest them in regard to the robin, whose 
picture is presented on page thii'ty-eight (as well as on page forty-two) 
and who returns again and again to speak for himself. 

Such a preparation for the 
lesson will help the pupils 
to enter upon the reading 
with zest and interest. 
Their questions will be real 
questions, and the answers 
will tell what they know is 
true. Not the least profit- 
able element in the exercise 
will be the sympathy with 
, bird life which is developed 
by the preliminary lessons, 
and continued in the read- 
ing. Already the children 
are beginning to read some- 
thing which has a message 
for them, and they enter upon it with a spirit which is entirely different 
from that which accompanies the reading of lessons that are made 
purely for tlie sake of including the words of their past vocabulary. 

The teacher will find it profitable to let two children read the text 
that is written in the form of a dialogue. Thus, on page thirty-eight, 
one child may read all that the robin says, another child answering 
the question. The children will enjoy the play, and the exercise will 
help them to imagine more closely the picture which the text suggests. 
The sentences will become more real through this impersonation. The 




THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 53 

lesson on page thirty-nine can be read in the same way. Such use 
of the dialogue leads not only to clearer comprehension of the thought, 
but also to natural and easy expression. 

XII. 

THE SUBJECTS OF THE LESSONS. 

Reference was made in the preceding section to the language lesson 
which should accompswiy the reading. It will be noted that the sub- 
jects of the lessons thus far have been those with which nearly all 
children are familiar. The cat, the dog, the horse, the cow, the bird, 
the baby, are friends near and dear to most children. They have been 
purf)osely selected because of their inherent interest, as the children 
already know these old friends and like to talk about them. 

Page forty introduces the home, with the brother and sister, and 
the flowers, and leads the cliildren to a comparison between their 
home and the liome of the birds ; the mother love which they know, 
and the love which the bird mother shows for her children. A wise 
teacher will make much of this exercise. 

On page fifty-eight the well known story of Mary and her little 
lamb appears. This is intended to be used in the same manner as tlie 
nursery rhymes which have preceded. Some of the words, as lingered 
and eager, do not reappear in the children's vocabulary. They are 
necessary for this reading merely. The lesson is not intended to be 
read before memorizing, but to be memorized before reading. The 
exercise serves purely as an exercise in word study. Such Avords as 
lingered and eager should be dropped out of the drill exercise as soon 
as they have served their purpose in this lesson. 

The exercise on page sixty employs the vocabulary which has been 
acquired by means of the rhyme. This lesson should be extended 
by the teacher. 



54 LEARNING TO READ. 



XIII. 

THE STUDY OF PICTURES. 

Observe the series of lessons which speak of the different homes of 
different children. Here is an opportunity for language lessons, illus- 
trated by pictures which will give the children some notion of the 
lives of other children. The boy who lives by the sea, the one who 
lives on the farm, and the child whose home is m the city, are con- 
trasted, and their occupations are suggested. Pictures which are 
drawn from nature, or which interpret life under these varying con- 
ditions, should -be brought to the class, to help the pupils to get more 
from their reading. Pictures of the farmhouse, of farmyards and the 
animals to be found there ; pictures of men plowing, or sowing, or 
reaping; scenes in the meadow, in the woods, on the hill, by the 
brook, — all these serve as material for both language and reading 
lessons, at this stage. If the teacher is fortunate enough to have a 
large number of First Readers at hand, so that she can secure this 
material without making it, here is opportunity to use them wisely. 
But the best possible material is that which she makes upon the board 
at the time of the little children's expressed interest in the subject 
they have been discussing. Just such lessons should help to interpret 
the fisherman's life, and the life of the boy in the city ; but the central 
thought in them all is the thought of the home. 

After these lessons, the children should be taught to sing " Home, 
Sweet Home." One stanza of the song has been inserted on page forty- 
five under the picture of the old homestead, in order to give them an 
opportunity to see in print the words which they are accustomed to recite, 
and to find some words which are already their familiar acquaintance. 
Later, this selection may be used as the nursery rhymes have been. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 55 



but it will be helpful even if it simply serves as an exercise in finding 
the familiar forms. 

The wise teacher will make good use of the picture which represents 
the old home. — What could children do if they lived in a home like 
that? What could they plaj'? What would they see? How is this 
home different from tlieir home ? 

Many of the pictures in the book have been prepared^ not simply to 
illust'-^t'^ the lesson in hand, but with the thought of such study. If 
other pictures are not at liand, the teacher may turn from page to page 
in the book to find pictures that illustrate farm life, and life by the sea 
or in the woodso 



XIV. 

STUDY OF OCCUPATIONS. 

The kindergarten wisely directs the attention of children to the 
occupations of men and women in the world about them. They visit 
the blacksmith, the farmer, the carpenter, watch them at work, and 
afterwards imitate them in their plays and games. Such observation 
and plays have a direct effect upon the child's imagination and upon his 
language as well. He masters the vocabulary which describes what 
he sees ; he pictures scenes which are like those which he has visited. 

The First Reader introduces the farmer, the miller, the fislierman, 
the churner, the blacksmith. The reading lessons should be supple- 
mented by observation, by conversation, and by language lessons. 
Pictures may take the place of field lessons when it is impossible 
to have the observation of real life, but it should be remembered 
that every thoughtful observation of outside life will reenforce the 
reading, and help the children to realize tliat books are written to 
teacli tliem, and to help them to understaud what they see. The 
stronger the relation of the child's experience to his text in reading, 



56 LEARNING TO READ. 

the more helpful will the other lessons become. Fortunately, the 
"field lesson" is growing in favor. It is not unusual for teachers 
to accompany their children to the field, the farm, or the workshop, 
to acquaint them with the objects about wliicli they are studying. 
This is to the children a most attractive feature of the school pro- 
gramme. They look forward to it with eager interest. The difficulties 
in the way disappear as the teacher organizes the walk or the visit, 
taking the children with her, in groups, after school, or arranging a 
Saturday Avalk for the entire class. Mothers and sisters are ready to 
help if the class is large. Sacli lessons are imperative in primary 
grades ; they enforce, in a marked degree, the lessons of the text. 

On page sixty-one, the children begin the reading of lessons upon 
the sun. They are glad in the sunshine, and they talk about the 
gifts of the sun ; they know they are happier when it is sunny than 
when it is cloudy, dark, and dismal. Their smiles are like sunshine ; 
they give thanks for the sunshine, and strive to be sunny and glad, 
to play that they are sunbeams. In tliis connection, a copy of Sir 
Joshua Reynolds' beautiful picture is introduced. The faces which 
are here pictured are so lovely that even the children realize how a 
child's face serves to make tlie world beautiful. 

Page seventy-four gives the children who have been reading of 
making sunshine, the song of the earth full of music, with its sun- 
shine. This poem should be read to them until it is memorized. It 
is intended as a memory gem, to be taught in the ordinary way, and 
to help to emphasize the thought which the preceding lessons should 
have given. With singing birds and glad sunshine there should be 
happy cliildren to make tlie world com})lete. The teacher, if slie 
chooses, may use the exercise for word study, after the memorizing ; 
but, if the lessons have been taught in the spirit which the subjects sug- 
gest, enough will have been gained if the poem is simply memorized. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 57 

Later in the year, the chiklren may return to it and read it for 
themselves. It is introduced at this juncture because of its helpful 
meaning. 



XV. 



THE VOWELS. 

On page sixty-seven, the long sounds of the vowels are introduced. 
Hitherto, stress has been laid upon the short sounds simply because 
tliey occur more frequently in the early reading, and because the long 
sound introduces the difficult silent letter. Now the children have 
had sufficient experience to distinguish between the different sounds, 
and to name the long sound and conquer the difficulties involved in 
the use of silent letters in their phonic analysis. The device whicli 
has been used to help them memorize the vowels is very like that 
which was employed in the alphabetical word list. The initial letters 
of the names of five girls are the vowels in full. A for Ada, E for 
Eva, I for Ida, O for Ora, U for Una. The initial sound of these 
words is the long sound of the corresponding vowel. The illustra- 
tions which accompany the lesson are an attractive feature of the 
page. After reading this page, the pupils may include in their word 
study exercises in finding vowels, and in marking them as either long 
or short. 

The exercise upon page eighty-two suggests a form of word study 
for the children. Words which contain the same vowel sound are 
collected in the lists. The power to make these lists indicates some 
degree of comprehension of phonic analysis. 



58 LEARNING TO READ. 



XYI. 

GOOD LITERATURE. 

On page sixty-eight, appears one of Robert Louis Stevenson's charm- 
ing child poems. All children are merry at the thought of the good 
cow who gives them cream to eat with apple tart, but no child will 
dream how much he is getting when he memorizes the words of the 
poem. Here he begins to read for himself something which is included 
in good literatui-e. A plea for such reading has been made elsewhere. 
Teachers are everywhere recognizing its value. The vocabulary of 
the Reader if carefully collated would serve to show that the hope 
of preparing the children to read good literature has governed the 
selections in the book, from beginning to end. 

Nor will the vocabulary alone tell the story. The fashion of a 
sentence may be crude and heavy, even if the words are well chosen. 
But the graceful phrases of Stevenson's poems are not too difficult for 
children, and the simple sentences of the First Reader, or of the lesson 
upon the board, may be expressed in graceful fashion and poetical 
phrase, and still be entirely within the comprehension of the child. 
Upon page seventy-one, are written two sentences which all lovers 
of literature like to recall, and yet they are simple enough for the 
children's reading. In succeeding lessons, the brook appears and re- 
appears, thus making ready for Tennyson's " Song of the Brook." It 
should be read to the children after these lessons have been read by 
them. It is to be hoped that the teacher who uses this book will read 
to the children from the best of books, and help them to realize that 
their mastery of the simple lessons is an open sesame to these golden 
fields. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING 59 

XVII. 

SCRIPT LESSONS. 

The Script Lessons wliich are distributed through the book are 
intended to afford occupation for the study period. They are written 
with clear and graceful type, and place an excellent copy before the 
children. On page one hundred and six, the charming verses of Mary 
Mapes Dodge are written in script. They are worthy of frequent 
copying. 

LMTcrdj /7TU>Vuyur, JhAjMhj/ \\jyhJiJnAjJaj ! 
S^joAxxAV OMyw ttVu mruu 'Xkaaju , 

WAvatj rvYUAAb oj AroxiAJ/ d/y ? 

J (y Jmj aJ MAMjdj oJ oj JxjlAj , Aju^ M^^ , 

\\j AaWw oaAaj aamu ruAyw, 
W^ oAjyuhd.OA^dj aAjy(M,ojnAj oA/yiM,amAj oAjyiM, 

LlmAj VnxLb) w-roatj jJrvu rrruAJiXj ojy. 

Mary Mapes Dodge. 

Permission of the Century Co. 
Publislitirs 0/ " St. Nicholas." 



60 LEARNING TO READ. 



XVIII. 

THE FABLE. 

Fables and folk stories are always attractive to children. No other 
form of story is so popular. This has ever been the case, as the 
long life of the Fable testifies. Some of the best known fables 
have been put into simple language for the readers of this book, an 
attempt having been made to render them in conversational style, so 
that there may be variety in reading as well as interest in the story. 
The moral has been put in the form of a proverb wlien possible. In 
the fables, it has been thought well to sacrifice the teacher's ordi- 
nary standard of the vocabulary to the interest of the story and the 
style of expression. A number of new words appear in the fables. 
To omit them, or to substitute familiar and easy ones, would lower 
the standard of expression. It is believed that the children will find 
the fables worth mastering as they are written. Into these stoiies some 
expressions and phrases are introduced which purposely assume a 
figurative form. It is- time for the children to begin such reading. 
The language of literature is different from the language of conversa- 
tion, and will ever be. The hare ran like the wind, is more diffi- 
cult to master than The hare ran fast, but it is worth all it costs. 

The folk story of the " Mouse in the oven spinning blue wool" has 
ever been a favorite with children. The repetition it, a delight to 
them. Here we make amends in full for the hard work in the fable ; 
for the words of the mouse, in the story, are repeated over and over 
again. What is the secret of the children's delight in this story? 
The teacher who answers this question will know how to clioose read- 
ing for her pupils. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 61 



XIX. 

THE MISSION OF THE PICTURE. 

In preparing this series of books, no effort has been spared to secure 
reprocluctions of the best pictures that children like; yet it may 
happen that so great emphasis is laid upon the reading of the text 
that the mission of the picture will be forgotten. Within the First 
Reader are included Millet's " Churner," and "Feeding the Birds," 
Meyer von Bremen's "Little Nurse," and Sir Joshua Reynolds' 
" Angels' Heads." The children should talk about the pictures, tell 
what they see in them and how they like them, recur to them again 
and again as they turn the pages of the book, the teacher never passing 
them without some comment upon their beauty. 

U})on page 105, the subject of the lesson is the Mother, whom the 
children love better than any one else. 

She is the best mother in the world. 

Her smile is like sunshine. 

She is busy from morning till night. 

It is mother who tells us stories. 

It is mother who sings sweet songs to us. 

It is mother who loves us. 

And we love mother with all our hearts. 



THE FIRST YEAR IN READING. 63 



If the teacher succeeds in making the children feel as they ought 
to feel when they read this lesson, and when they repeat ^ " Hundreds 
of stars in the j)retty sky," — they will be quite ready to interpret 
the picture of the artist. The three children sit in the open door 
of the cottage ; the mother with the bowl in her lap leans forward 
to feed her children with the wooden spoon. How intent they are, 
as they eagerly wait for the coming food ! The little one in the 
middle leans forward for her portion ; the others await their turn in 
eager confidence. How good the mother is, and how the children love 
her ! How she loves the children ! Why does the artist call the 
picture " Feeding the Birds " ? The child who can read the lesson 
can read the picture. 

Just as this picture shows mother life, the "Churner" represents 
the sturdy homeliness of the worker, at her common task. The child 
who reads the lesson can thank Elsie for making the yellow butter. 
He begins to think of the many hands that are working for him, and 
to look upon the honest laborer with honest respect. Some such feeling 
the study of the picture will add to his lesson ; and if the teacher 
stops to tell the children of the artist's choice of subject and his reason 
for so choosing, their thoughts will recur to tlie lesson in days to come, 
and the picture will grow in meaning as the children grow in experience. 
Do not omit the study of the picture. 

1 See page 105, First Eeader. 



► 



Part III. 

LANGUAGE LESSONS AS AN AID TO 
READING. 



pan III. 




i 



LANGUAGE LESSONS AS AN AID TO READING. 
STUDY OF THE MEANING OF WORDS. 

IN the preceding chapters, reference has been made to the fact that 
the child's experience largely determines his interpretation of the 
reading lesson. All teachers Avill readily recall incidents in their own 
class-work which will illustrate this truth. The child who has never 
seen the ocean, whose life, perhaps, has been spent in the mountains, 
will find it difficult to picture the scenes which are described in the 
story of " The Leak in the Dike." The mountain walls to which he 
has been accustomed are very different from the low level fields which 
the little Dutch boy has known. The wideness of the sea, its tides, 
its mighty strength, are notions which may be entirel}^ strange to him. 
So, also, any child who lives in an inland village or town, needs some 
helper to make plain to him the poems and stories which describe 
the life of the sea. " The Wreck of the Hesperus " is written in a 



68 LEARNING TO READ. 



foreign tongue to him whose imagination has never depicted the raging 
waves, the cruel rocks, the pebbly beach, the bitter storm, and the 
shattered ship. As we read the poem, every word is filled with mean- 
ing because our associations have enriched our lives with varied experi- 
ences. We have walked on the beach, have climbed over the rocks, 
have watched the vessel slowly sinking from sight below the distant 
horizon, have waited for the steady advance of the incoming tide, and 
heard the restless waters beating upon the steadfast rocks. We have 
seen the stately vessels riding upon the still waters of the bay, or 
tossing upon the waves of the outer ocean. We have talked with the 
sailors, and know something of their sturdy lives, and the fearful 
dangers to which they are exposed. We know boys and girls who 
have sailed with their fathers on long voyages. All this knowledge 
illuminates the poem, and fills it with meaning for us. Bereft of 
this experience, we should fail to catch the beauty of the poet's de- 
scription or to read his meaning in the familiar lines. It requires 
some effort of the imagination to enable us to conceive how little 
Emerson's snowstorm would say to us if our eyes had never beheld 
the gathering storm, " announced by all the trumpets of the sky." 
Bryant's " Fringed Gentian " is written for those whose eyes have 
delighted in the exquisite beauty of the autumn blossom. " The 
Death of the Flowers " must be interpreted by him who knows the 
windflower and the violet, the aster and the golden rod. The 
perfect picture of June, in Lowell's " Vision of Sir Launfal," is visible 
only to him whose eyes have seen the buttercup catching " tiie sun 
in its chalice " and whose ears have been attuned to the music of the 
bird whose " illumined being " overruns " with the deluge of summer 
it receives." 

The experience of the children is akin to our own. Whatever they 
read is interpreted by what they have seen and heard and felt. Many 
a word which seems to us so simple and common that we pass it un- 



LANGUAGE LESSONS AS AN AID TO READING. 69 

challenged in our teaching, stands apart from all experience in the 
children's lives, calls up no notions in their minds, fails altogether 
to contribute to the meaning of the story which they are reading. 
However simple the lesson may be, the word which represents no idea 
to the child, is a stumbling-block and hinders the thought getting. 
It is utterly idle to insist upon the mere repetition of the word which 
serves in no degree to enlighten the child. The teacher who attempts 
to explain its meaning may contribute little to his enlightenment. 
The explanation is often given in terms which are quite as unintelligi- 
ble as the original word. One bit of experience is worth a thousand, 
explanations. A summer day in the country does more to interpret 
Lowell's picture of the day in June than would a hundred folios on 
the subject if the reader had never seen the fields and the flowers. 
Just so, the child who is to read about the chicken, the cow, the 
tortoise, the oak, the violet, the frost, must gain his insight through 
sight. Lessons which supply the experience to those who have never 
had it, or which recall the forgotten experience so that it illumines the 
text, are legitimate reading lessons. Indeed, they are indispensable. 

It is therefore the duty of the teacher to discover in what lines the 
child is ignorant, and to help him to increase his knowledge therein. 
This increase must come through actual seeing and doing on his part, 
as has been said. Observation lessons whose object is to lead the 
children to new knowledge, are not only useful in developing facility 
in expression and keenness in observing, but also in 23reparing the 
pupils to read the pages in which these objects are described. If the 
object which figures in the lesson is unattainable as well as unknown, 
the pictm^e may suffice. If this is not to be secured, the teacher's 
explanation may be made to suffice — as a last resort. 

It should not be forgotten, however, that the child's doing is much 
more potent than the teacher's telling — nor that the description which 
seems clear to the teacher may be obscure to the child. " What are the 



70 LEARNING TO READ. 



ornaments in the room ? " questioned a pupil just learning the language. 
" Oh, the knickknacks," replied the teacher. The pupil was quite as 
much in the dark as before his question. The explanation must be 
couched in terms of the learner's experience, and must take full account 
of his limitations. If this simple principle were always followed, much 
of the misdirected energy and the consequent tedium of the schoolroom 
would be spared. 

Applying this principle to the work with the little children, we 
shall conclude that lessons on things must contribute to the power to 
interpret the words which represent thought and experience. Lan- 
guage lessons, observation lessons, field lessons, etc. will become 
familiar features in the series of lessons which aim to teach children to 
read. 

In the primary Readers which this manual accompanies, the objects 
described are. selected with reference to the interests of ordinary 
children, as they have been carefully studied. The further purpose has 
been to interest children in their environment, in nature and human 
nature. A running glance will discover the lines which have been 
chosen, and the kind of contributing lessons which are desirable. The 
following lists name forms of animal and plant life, natural forces, and 
minerals, to which reference is made in the primary Readers, with 
allusions to the common occupations of men. 



LANGUAGE LESSONS AS AN AID TO READING. 



71 





ANIMALS. 






FIRST 


READER. 




dog 


robin 


OX 


tortoise 


cow 


bluebird 


lamb 


fish 


cat 


oriole 


sheep 


hare 


mouse 


eggs 


wool 


shells 


hen 


goat 


squirrel 


bee 


chickens 


horse 


fox 


butterfly 




SECONI 


) READER. 




goose 


sparrows 


stag 


trout 


turkey 


blue jay 


hound 


quail 


crow 


kid 


rabbit 


flies 


eagle 


wolf 


donkey 


ant 


crane 


bear 


frog 


grasshopper 


dove 


lion 


turtle 


sponges 




THIRD 


READER. 




pigeons 


crow 


curlew 


salmon 


woodpecker 


raven 


sandpiper 


beetle 


swallows 


wren 


toads 


spaniel 


blackbird 


duck 


vipers 


hedgehog 



72 



LEARNING TO READ. 





PLANT LIFE. 


I 




FIRST READER. 




tree 


elm 


windflowe] 


L^ corn 


bush 


oak 


violet 


berries 


apples 


acorn 


rose 


ears 


brandies 


pussy willow asters 


branches 


roots 


stem 


dandelion 


leaves 


maple 


roots 


lily 


wheat 




SECOND READER. 




grapes 


bramble 


beans 


hawthorn 


blueberries 


weeds 


peas 


cedar 


fig 


nuts 


lettuce 


daisies 


raisins 


peanuts 


radishes 


columbhie 


chestnut 


liazel 


fir tree 


elder-bloom 




THIRD READER. 




olive trees 


marigolds 


mornino;-o;lories flax 


birch 


tulips 


anemone 


spices 


tamarack 


peonies 


fern 


cucumber 


holly 


poppy 


beeches 


onions 


sycamore 


hyacinth 


burdock 


potatoes 



LANGUAGE LESSONS AS AN AID TO READING. 



73 



OCCUPATIONS. 

FIRST READER. 

farming churning spinning blacksmith 

SECOND READER. 



fishing 


threshhig 


fuller 


autlior 


weaving 


shearing 


soldier 


artist 


mowinp; 


sexton 


statesman 


charcoal-burner 



woodman 
ditcher 



THIRD READER. 



gleaner 
tailor 



engineer 
miller 



sailor 
merchant 



sun 
sky 
clouds 



NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

FIRST READER. 

rainbow rain 

stars snow 

showers dewdrops 



wind 

northwind 

sunshine 



74 



LEARNING TO READ. 





] 


3ECOND READER. 




moon 


hail 


Jack Frost 


mountain 


dawn 


icicles 


summer 


hill 


night 


lake 


winter 


valley 



reflection in the water 



storm 



THIRD READER. 

echo freshet 



fountain 



gold pearls 



MINERALS, 
coal salt 



diamonds 



It is not expected that the teacher's pLan will include an exliaustive 
study of all the facts and objects suggested. But it is absolutely neces- 
sary that the children should have some clear and general notion of the 
meaning of the words used, so that their reading will be intelligent, the 
words truly representing ideas to their minds. The accompanying 
lessons are intended to suggest and illustrate types of lessons which 
should accompany lessons in reading, whenever the pupil's knowledge 
is so limited as to hinder the process of thought getting. It should not 
be forgotten that the teacher must be the best judge as to the best selec- 
tion of subjects for her own class. Further, the teacher will recognize 
that any of these lessons may serve to reenforce her teaching in lan- 
guage, drawing, or nature study, as well as reading. 



Paet IV. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 

OBSERVATION, LANGUAGE, AND PREPARATION FOR 

READING. 



^att IV, 

CHAPTER V. 




LESSON UPON THE COW. 

'T~^0 precede or accompany Reading Lessons which refer to the cow. 
^ {in lowest grades) . 

I. Find out what the children know about the cow. 

Every new lesson should be built upon, and fastened to, the child's 
past experience. If the children have no knowledge of cows, we must 



78 LEARNING TO READ. 



introduce the subject accordingly. If they have always known them, 
the lesson will be merely a review, because the foundation will have 
been prepared. If the children live in the country and know the 
common animals, proceed at once to definite questions which will 
arrange their knowledge and help them to express it. 

Where have you seen cows? What do you know about them, — 
their size, color, the head, ears, legs, feet, tail? 

How large are they, as compared with the horse, dog, cat ? 

Compare the covering with that of the horse, dog, cat. Compare the 
parts with the corresponding parts of those animals. 

Describe the horns. Why do cows have horns ? What use do they 
make of them ? 

Describe the ears. Where are they? Does the cow move them? 
(The ears of the dog, cat, cow, horse are movable ; ours are not. 
Why?) 

Compare the cow's nose and mouth with those of the cat or the 
horse. 

Does any one know anything about the cow's teeth? What does she 
eat ? What kind of teeth does she need ? 

Tell the children about the chewing of the cud. 

Of what use to the cow is the long tail with its brush at the end ? 
Who has seen her use it ? Would a short tail serve as well ? 

Who knows anything about the cow's foot ? Who can draw a picture 
of the cow's footprint? 

Of what use are cows to us ? What does the cow give to us ? 

How should cows be cared for? What kind of stall, what kind of 
bed, what food, water, pasture, should they have ? Describe a pasture 
you would like if you were a cow. 

How ought we to treat animals? Is it right to forget their wants 
when we have the care of them? 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 79 



Every lesson upon animals should help the children to realize more 
fully their obligation to properly care for them. Sympathy for animal 
life ought to be develoijed through the reading and language lessons. 
Interest in animal life is always present in children. The questions 
above suggested cannot be answered at once, by any ordinary class of 
children. Many who are familiar with cows in general will be unable 
to answer the definite questions. The questions will lead them to a 
more careful observation, after which they can report in another lesson. 
Sometimes the questions may be distributed, different groups of children 
being held responsible for the answers to certain ones. 

II. Direct outside observation in order to get new knowledge. 

It is entirely feasible, in many schoolrooms, to make the cow the sub- 
ject of a field lesson. The children may be taken, in groups, to a farm- 
yard, a pasture, or a stable, where a cow may be observed and studied. 
Such lessons have ceased to be formidable, since they have become so 
common. The need of such visits is revealed by the children's vague 
answers. Nothing but definite observation of the real thing will open 
their eyes, and make the words in their lesson full of meaning. 

There are many city children who have never seen a cow. If it is 
impossible to show them a real cow, excellent pictures should be sub- 
stituted. Many of the questions suggested could be answered by .pic- 
tures. It must be remembered, however, that the picture tells to us, 
who have seen the real thing, much more than it tells to a child, who 
has never had that experience. It is not strange that a child who has 
never seen a real cow should imagine that animal to be six inches long, 
the size of the cow which he has known from pictures in the lesson. 
Emphasize the fact of the size. Allude to the picture as a picture only. 
Have the children show by their hands how high a cow would be, how 
long, how wide its head, etc. By such means, help to vivify the mental 
picture which is suggested to the child by the lesson. If the pictures 
are the only avenues through which the children learn about the cow, 



80 LEARNING TO READ. 



do not attempt to give as much information as would naturally be asso- 
ciated with the real observation lesson. Remember that the amount of 
knowledge which the chikl gains is not proportioned to the number of 
facts enumerated by the teacher. He will intelligently appropriate 
those which his observation and thought have helped him to understand. 
As has been said before, this truth determines the value of the reading 
lesson to the child, and necessitates the associated lessons which supple- 
ment his ex2:)erience and enable him to bring to the lesson a mind fur- 
nished with appropriate ideas. 

III. Tell the children simple facts which they cannot find out for 
tliemselves. 

There are many facts associated with the cow which the children 
can know only through others : the use of tlie horns, of the bones, the 
hair, etc.; the manufactures; tlie reason for the cud-chewing; — the 
making of butter and cheese. The writer has known classrooms 
in which milk was skimmed, the cream churned into butter, and the 
butter eaten by the children. The quantity, of course, was small, but 
the process was very real and very interesting. This happened recently 
in a kindergarten in the city. There were only three children in the 
class who had ever seen a cow. It is hardly necessary to say that 
the lesson followed a visit to that animal. 

IV. Reenforce the lessons by stories. 

Stories al)out cows, or descriptions of certain animals, perhaps the 
pets which we have known, will add interest to the lessons. 

V. Collect pictures of cows, for comparison and description. 

In almost any district the children will be able to help in making 
collections of pictures which illustrate the language and reading lesson. 
These pictures can be obtained from newspapers, magazines, adver- 
tisements, and various other sources. Every child who helps to swell 
the collection will feel an added interest in it. The collection will be 
valuable in proportion as it is carefully arranged and thoughtfully 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 81 



used by the teacher. If the cards are neatly mounted upon separate 
sheets which contain the name of the contributor, and distributed 
imongst the children for observation and comparison, it will prove 
really helpful. Through the comparison of the different pictures, many 
facts will be developed, suggested by the children's comments or 
questions. Such teachhig will be sure to fit the needs of the children. 
These suggestions will be modified and arranged by any teacher who 
desires to use them. They may help to point the way for those who 
are not entirely familiar with this phase of their work. 

II. 

LESSON UPON THE OAK. 

As in the lesson upon the cow, the teacher's first object should be 
to discover what the children already know. Nearly all children, 
even those living in cities or towns, have some opportunity to see 
and study trees, and their attention should be carefully directed to 
those about them. 

Have you ever seen an oak tree? Where was it growing? How 
tall was it? (Compare with a man, a horse, a house; with other trees.) 

What do you remember about the size of its trunk ? About the bark, 
about the leaves, about the fruit ? 

Bring to the class acorns, leaves, or, in blossom time, bring blossoms. 

What is the use of the blossom, the leaf, the acorn ? 

Draw them. 

Plant an acorn and see wliat comes of it. 

(Patient and continued observation.) 

Of what use is the oak tree to us? (Do not forget that beauty as 
well as manufacturing is to be considered.) 

Name articles made of oak. 

6 



82 



LEARNING TO READ. 



1 




Bring specimens of the wood. 

The older jDupils can draw the tree. 

Tell the children abont the Charter Oak. 

Take them, if possible, to a field, or wood or park or street where 
they can see an oak growing. 

Refer to the lesson some weeks afterwards, in order to lead to con- 
tinued observation of the tree in different stag-es. 

Do not feel that it is necessary to do all which the lesson suggests 
with every class, but be sure that the children have some actual 
knowledge of an actual oak tree. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 83 

III. 

LESSONS UPON OCCUPATIONS. 

Frequent reference is made, in all literature, to the occupations of 
men. Even if this were not the case, a knowledge of these occupations 
is necessary to even a fair education. Every child should have some 
intelligent knowledge of the work of the farmer, the miller, the car- 
penter, the bricklayer, the engineer, the miner, the merchant. But, be 
this as it may, the pages of the school Reader, will demand some knowl- 
edge of the every day occupations of men. 

Children are naturally interested in the occupations of their neigh- 
bors. They like to see things made. They like to know why certain 
effects come from certain causes. Nothing could be more fruitful than 
a visit to a blacksmith shop, a new house that is being built, a sewer 
that is being dug, a cellar that is being laid ; to a ropewalk, to a mine, 
to a quarry, whei'e real men are engaged in real work. The natural 
interest of children in these subjects is evidenced by their desire to 
" play " the miller, the farmer, the driver, the boatman, etc. We do 
well when we build upon this natural interest. " The Village Black- 
smith " is a familiar poem based upon a common experience. As has 
been said, the children who know something about the work of the 
blacksmith will enjoy and understand the poem as no others can. Ask 
them to go to a blacksmith and then to report ; or go with a class of 
children, and help them to observe and question. The blacksmith Avill 
be courteous and generous if he is courteously requested to give his aid 
to the children. Prepare them for the lesson by a preliminary talk 
about the blacksmith, his work, the need of his work ; his tools, the 
material with which he works, the sources from which iron is obtained, 
the process by which steel is made. Having prepared the children to 
observe, assign questions or topics upon which they are to report : the 



84 



LEARNING TO READ. 



anvil, the forge, the sledge, the bellows, the horseshoe, etc. Upon 
their return from the visit, allow the different pupils to tell what 
they have seen. After the general conversation, insist upon an orderly 
description. 

Kindred lessons may be given upon the other occupations suggested. 
In many cases stories can be told or read, which Avill reenforce the 
observation. It nuist not be forgotten that one result of the lessons 
should be a sincere respect for honest toil, and a pride in the ability to 
do honest work well. It is hardly necessary to say that the visit to the 
blacksmith's shop will reenforce the reading, and that a study of Long- 
fellow's poem will, in turn, make the visit more valuable. The lan- 
guage lesson will help the reading lesson because it adds interest; it 
will also help the lesson as literature, because it gives fuller power of 
interpretation and corresponding appreciation of the poem. All these 
lessons will be made more valuable by the use of collections of pictures. 



RAIN. 

FOR SECOND GRADE. 




Observation during a rain. 

What is rain ? 

Where does it come from? 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 85 

How did it get there ? 

Experiment later, if the children become interested in the question. 
Do not answer it for them now. Let them question and think. 

Upon which windows does it fall ? 

Why not upon the opposite windows? 

Where does it go? 

What good will it do ? 

Think what the rain does for the trees. How do you know? 

What does it do for the birds ? How do you know ? 

What does it do for the flowers ? How do you know ? 

What does it do for you ? 

If no rain were to fall for three months, Avhat would happen to the 
flowers, to the grass, to the gardens, to the brooks? 

Would it make any dilTerence to you ? 

Experiment : — 

Breathe upon the cold glass. Show condensed vapor. 

Boil water : collect vapor on cold surface. 

Recall vapor on windows. 

Recall clothes drying. 

Recall windows on washing day. 

Explain how fine particles of water are carried through the air, unite 
so as to be seen when cold, — in breath, on windows, in clouds, in fog. 

Explain how rainfall is caused. 

Read " Children of the Clouds." 

Memorize " Is it Raining, Little Flower ? " 

Read to the children " A Rainy Day " {Longfellow). 

Tell the story of the drop of water in its journey from ocean to ocean 
again. 

Ask them to reproduce the story. 



86 LEARNING TO READ. 



IV. 

LESSONS ON BIRD LIFE. 

The study of birds has become so common a feature of school work, 
that suggestions on the subject may be trite and superfluous. For 
those teachers who have not yet attempted such study, the folhjwing 
practical suggestions may be helpful. 

All children are interested in animal life, but few city children have 
more than a vague )iotion of the habits and characteristics of the 
animals of wldch they read. Not long ago the writer chanced to hear 
a class of primary cliihh-en reading about the hen. The exercise was 
hesitating, the reading dubious. Upon questioning, it was found that 
but three children in the class had ever seen a live hen, and in two of 
these cases the hen was " nailed up in a box in the market." One child 
only had seen a hen walking about, and that was in " Tim Jones's alley." 
Obviously the sentences which had seemed so luminous to the teacher 
were dark to the children. 

Such experiences are not confined to city children. Wide experience 
has discovered many a country child whose eyes have never been truly 
opened to the life about him. It is safe to assume that any class of 
little children will profit by any lesson which increases their interest 
in the bird world, and opens their eyes to see new beauties and their 
minds to receive new pictures, and which incidentally explains the 
pages that otherwise are meaningless. 

For such preliminary study, the best beginning is the observation of 
some caged bird, which can be kept within reach for awhile. A canary, 
a parrot, a dove, a hen, a duck, will behave well in the schoolroom, may 
be cared for by the pupils, and studied for several days, and will serve 
as a center from which new investigations may radiate, or as a type to 
which all new bird-knowledge may be referred. The canary or parrot 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 87 

can be brought in its own house. For the others a dwelling place may 
be extemporized. A box frame may be built, open on all sides, and 
covered with coarse wire netting, or, better, with fencing. Or the one 
side may be removed from a wooden box of suitable size, and netting be 
substituted for it. The children should be able to watch the bird as 
it eats, drinks, walks or flies about, and should be allowed at first to 
observe without the restriction of question or recitation. 

The conversation of the pupils, their exclamations and questions, 
will reveal the best line of approach to the subject. It will be found 
that their chief interest centers in the actions of the bird. " See him 
eat ! " '^ How fast he turns the seed ! " " See the shells fly ! " " How 
he spatters the water ! " " Oh, he 's washing himself 1 " Such are the 
free comments of the children. 

Let these determine the first lesson. 

You have been watching the canary, what have you seen him do ? 
What can he do that you do ? What can he do that you cannot do ? 

These questions cannot be answered without actual knowledge. If 
the replies are written upon the board, it will be discovered that tlie 
children have added definitely to their store of knowledge, and likewise 
to their vocabulary. 

Another conversation may compare the cat and the canary, the cow 
and the canary, or (a very different exercise) may note the resemblances 
and differences between the canary and other birds with which the 
children are somewhat familiar. This comparison leads to observation 
of the structure, to naming and describing the parts of the canary. 

" The canary can fly because he has wings. We have no wings 
but we have arms. The cat has no wings but she has two fore-legs." 
So the comparison proceeds to head, eyes, bill, feet, until the children 
are ready to describe the bird in clear and appropriate language. 

Another talk compares the habits of the bird with those of the cat 
and dog, and leads to descriptions of the nests, the eggs, the home habits 



8S LEARNING TO READ. 



of the bird with the rearing of the young. The lessons j)repare for the 
reading, to be sure, but this value is incidental only, as compared with 
the evident interest and the growing power of the children in thinking, 
seeing, and saying. 

It would be interesting to keep a record of the words used, or needed, 
by the children in such lessons, to collect them afterwards, and to dis- 
cover what proportion of the list of words is included in the ordinary 
stock vocabulary of elementary readers. Such a study would reveal 
to any intelligent teacher the close relation between experience and 
reading, and would fully justify the plan of work outlined in these 
pages. 

It may be well to add in passing that such a series of lessons serves 
as a basis to which all related lessons may be referred. When the 
children read about the oriole or the robin, he is compared with the 
canary, and the old lesson explains and reenforces the new. The value 
of such lessons depends upon the teacher's recognition of this relation. 
The children need not know the skeleton of her plan, but she must 
know the end from the beginning. 

V. 

STUDY OF "THE BUILDERS." — LONGFELLOW, 

Preparation for the Poem. 

If the readers are young children, it would be well to prepare for 
the reading of the poem by a lesson upon the material building. It is 
possible that the carpenters and masons are already at work in the 
immediate neighborhood of the schoolhouse. The children have been 
interested in watching the digging of the cellar, the laying of the 
foundation stone, the fixing of the frame in position, the laying 
of the walls. A little questioning and observation will lead them 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 89 

to see how necessary it is to the strength of tlie building that 
every part be well shaped and firmly placed. There may be unfortu- 
nate examples in their neighborhood which show the folly of dishonest 
building. They may easily be led to realize what harm may result 
from slighting any piece of work, or falsely covering any weakness. 
Anecdotes are abundant to illustrate this : the bridge which gives way 
beneath the weight of the passing train, carrying hundreds to death; 
the dam which has weak timber, yielding to the pressure of the 
freshet; the elevator which falls with its precicnis load. These point 
to building which was insecure and treacherous. For the other side of 
the picture, we turn to the old cathedrals, showing the children the 
beautiful spires, the exquisite carving, and telling them how they 
have endured through the ages because their builders did honest 
work. 

Such a lesson prepares for the interpretation of the poem, which' 
turns our thought to the building which we are shaping with our to- 
days and yesterdays. The lessons of the unstable wall, the falling 
bridge, as well as the grace and strength of the cathedral, serve now 
as a parallel for the poet's teaching, and the inevitable result to others 
is seen as well as felt Avhen we read of the " broken stairways, Avhere 
the feet stumble as they seek to climb." After such lessons, every 
line is filled witli meaning as the children read and re-read the 
inspiring poem. Then it is time to memorize every line, but especially 
the two stanzas, — 

" In the elder clays of art, 

Builders wrought with greatest care 
Each minute and unseen part ; 
For the gods see everywhere. 

" Let us do our work as well, 

Both the unseen and the seen : 
Make the house, where gods may dwell. 
Beautiful, entire, and clean." 



90 LEARNING TO READ. 



It is not necessary to preach while teaching tliis poem. The lesson 
impresses itself upon the children if they are rightly prepared for it. 
They will make their own application, but we should not forget that 
a valuable lesson like this is not measured by ease in recitation or 
accuracy in reading. If, in the days to come, the memory of the poet's 
words shall give strength in the hour of temptation, or incite to honest 
work when the hand inclines to careless shirking, the lesson will have 
counted for good. In selecting the poems for our children, and in 
directing their reading, such hope should guide our choice. The words 
of the poem or the story will recur again and again when the memory 
of the schoolroom has faded. We should be assured that the minds of 
our pupils are furnished with thoughts worth remembering. " What- 
soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, 
think on these things." 



VI. 



STUDY OF A POEM. 

Illustrative Lesson. 
LITTLE BELL. 

Piped the blackbird on the beechwood spray, 
" Pretty maid, slow wandering this way. 

What 's your name ? " quoth he, — 
"What's your name? Oh, stop, and straight unfold, 
Pretty maid, with showery curls of gold ! " 

" Little Bell," said she. 

Little Bell sat down beneath the rocks, 
Tossed aside her gleaming golden locks. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 



91 



"•Bonny bird," quoth she, 
" Sing me your best song, before I go." 
" Here 's the very finest song I know, 

Little Bell," said he. 

And the blackbird piped ; you never heard 
Half so gay a song from any bird, — 

Full of quips and wiles, 
Now so round and rich, now soft and slow, 

Dimpled o'er with smiles. 



And the while the bonny bird did pour 
His full heart out freely, o'er and o'er, 

'Neath the morning skies. 
In the little childish heart below 
All the sweetness seemed to gr(^w and grow, 
And shine forth in happy overflow 
From the blue, bright eyes. 

Down the dell she tripped, and through the glade 
Peeped the squirrel from the hazel shade. 

And from out the tree 
Swung, and leaped, and frolicked, void of fear. 
While bold blackbird piped, that all might hear, 

" Little Bell ! " piped he. 




Little Bell sat down amid the fern : 
" Squirrel, squirrel, to your task return ; 
Bring me nuts," quoth she. 



92 



LEARNING TO READ. 



Up, away, the frisky squirrel hies, — 
Golden wood lights glancing in his eyes, — 

And adown the tree 
Great ripe nuts, kissed brown by July sun, 
In the little lap dropped, one by one. 
Hark ! how blackbird pipes to see the fun ! 

" Happy Bell ! " pi})es he. 



Little Bell looked up and down the glade: 
"" Squirrel, squirrel, if you 're not afraid, 

Come and share with me ! " 
Down came squirrel, eager for his fare, — 
Down came bonny blackbird, I declare ! 
Little Bell gave each his honest share ; 

Ah, the merry three ! 



And the while these frolic playmates twain 
Piped and frisked from bough to bough again, 

'Neath tlie morning skies. 
In the little childish heart below 
All the sweetness seemed to grow and grow. 
And shine out in happy overflow 

From her blue, bright eyes. 




By her snow-white cot, at close of day, 
Knelt sweet Bell, with folded palms, to pray: 

Very calm and clear 
Rose the praying voice, to where, unseen, 
Jn blue heaven, an angel shape serene 

Paused awhile to hear. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESIONS. 



93 



" What good child is this," the angel said, 
" That, with happy heart, beside her bed 

Prays so lovingly ? " 
Low and soft, — oh ! very low and soft, 
Crooned the blackbird in the orchard croft, 

" Bell, dear Bell ! " crooned he. 




" Whom God's creatures love," the angel fair 
Murmured, " God doth bless with angels' care ; 

Child, thy bed shall be 
Folded safe from harm. Love, deep and kind. 
Shall watch around, and leave good gifts behind, 

Little Bell, for thee." 

Thomas Westwood. 



The poem selected for this lesson is suitable for use in third, fourth, 
or fifth grades, although even younger children enjoy hearing it read. 
Such children would, however, find difficulty in a detailed study, such 
as is suggested in this exercise. The poem may be used simply as a 
reading lesson, or it may be read, studied, and memorized by the 
pupils as a language exercise. The various advantages of the study 



94 ^ LEARNING TO READ. 



are indicated in the following suggestions, which are intended to 
indicate merely some of the different modes of treatment -which may 
be attempted in language teaching. 

The Thought in the Poem. 

As in all lessons, the children should read the entire poem or hear it 
read before any detailed study is attempted. This is done in order that 
the poem may be presented to them as a whole, giving its thought or 
telling its message. After such reading, every stanza and every word 
will assume its rightful place in the description of the story. Other- 
wise, given separately, the words lose the meaning which they are in- 
tended to convey. A poem, like a picture, should be presented as a 
whole, and never dissected, in the first lesson. 

It is wise, sometimes, to read and to re-read without note or 
comment ; then to lay aside the book and leave the children to recall 
the story, and to accustom themselves to its pictures. At the next 
lesson, the teacher may question, — following out any of tJie suggested 
lines of work. 

The important motive is to get the message which the author in- 
tended to give us in the poem. Everything else must be subordinate 
to this purpose. Any supplementary teaching which draws the atten- 
tion away from the poem, creating a separate center of interest, is 
in excess. All illustration and explanation should be intended simply 
to throw light upon the poem, making the pictures more vivid and the 
message more i)lain. 

The thought in this poem is very evident, even to the children. In 
the first stanza the blackbird on the beechwood spray introduces us to 
the pretty maid, slow wandering his way. She is little Bell. Sitting 
down beneath the rocks, she asks the blackbird for his best song. The 
bonny bird pours his full heart out freely, while in the little childish 
heart below, all the sweetness seems to grow and grow, and shine forth 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 95 

in liappy overflow from the blue, bright eyes. Tlie squirrel swings and 
leaps and frolics in the glade, and at the child's bidding drops down 
great ripe nuts into her lap. The blackbird pipes to see tlie fun. The 
child shares her treasures with the squirrel and the bird, and again the 
poet tells us 

" 111 the little childish heart below 
All the sweetness seemed to grow and grow, 
And shine out in happy overflow 

From her blue, bright eyes." 

When, at close of day, the child kneels to pray beside her snow- 
white cot, an angel pauses to hear, and asks what good child prays 
so lovingly beside her bed. The blackbird answers from the orchard 
croft, '• Bell, dear Bell ! " " Whom God's creatures love, God doth 
bless with angels' care," the angel murmured. 

" Child, thy bed shall be 
Folded safe from harm. Love, deep and kind. 
Shall watch around, and leave good gifts behind, 
Little Bell, for thee." 

Even the little children sense the meaning of the poem. They have 
already learned that love wins love, and makes friends, and they feel 
it to be both natural and just that tlie loving little Bell shall be shielded 
from all harm, and sheltered by loving thought. The older children 
may be reminded of Sidney Lanier's poem, '' How Love Sought for 
Hell," — failing to find it because wherever his presence came there 
were kindness and light. The little ones are reminded that the mirror 
gives back smile for smile, and frown for frown. It is hardly necessary 
to point the moral and adorn the tale. The poet has repeated in the 
selfsame words the lines which show how the child grew in sweetness 
as she played so lovingly with her woodland friends. For many classes 



LEARNING TO READ. 



it would be enough to talk of the poem until the children were pos- 
sessed of this thought, or rather this feeling, and then leave it to do 
its own work. In this case, however, the poem serves as a text for the 
lesson, and we shall consider other phases. 

PREPARATION FOR THE READING. 

The Pictures in the Poem. 

The poem takes us at once to the woods where the blackbird pipes 
on the beechwood spray. We see the rocks, the dell, the glade, the 
trees, the hazel shade, and are made acquainted with the blackbird and 
the squirrel. Plainly, the setting of the poem is clearest to those 
children who themselves have played in the woods ; who have heard 
the blackbird sing, and have seen the squirrel leap from bough to 
bough. The beechwood spray, the hazel shade, the dell, the glade, the 
fern, are already familiar to such children, and need no lesson to intro- 
duce them. But if the tenement house, the narrow alley, the brick 
walls and the iioisy street have been the familiar surroundings of the 
children, and if the country seems as far away to them as Paradise, the 
poem is written in a foreign tongue. With such children, other lessons 
are necessary before any such selection is read or memorized. These 
lessons may not be given at the time of the reading ; far better not : 
but they should precede the reading in the teacher's plan, and the young 
reader should enter upon this lesson equipped with some knowledge 
of the bird, the squirrel, and the woods. In another chapter, something 
has been said of the necessity of such teaching, and of the way in which 
such lessons may be conducted. The suggestion is made here simply 
to emphasize this truth, — that observation of nature is essential to the 
interpretation of literature. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 97 

The Study of the Vocabulary of the Poem. 

Although the pupils may be prepared by their out-of-door experience 
to understand the i:)oem, nevertheless they will be met by a new diffi- 
culty in the reading. The language of literature differs from that 
to which they have been accustomed in conversation. The tendency 
of our school readers and children's books is often to remove such 
difficulties from the path of the children. The lessons are expressed 
in words already familiar to them, and in colloquial forms. While this 
practice renders the first lessons in reading easy, it makes the entrance 
to literature difficult. Many expressions are entirely foreign to the 
child's ear, and therefore unintelligible, even when the story is attrac- 
tive. The poem which we are using for illustration contains many 
words and phrases which the children have not met in their ordinary 
reading. These must be explained and their meaning made familiar 
to the children. '^ ' What 's your name ? ' qiLoth he ; " " stop, and 
straight unfold;'' ''■ shower >/ ciwh oi gold;" " ^Zmmm(/ golden locks ; " 
" bonni/ bird ; " " blackbird jnjJed ; " " dell ; " " glade ; " " hazel shade ; " 
" void of fear ; " " hies ; " " golden wood lights ; " " ndoivn the tree ; " 
" playmates twain ; " '' an angel shape ; " " crooned the blackbird in the 
orchard croft,'" are some of these. 

It may not be necessary nor wise in most classes to study all these 
expressions minutely, but they should become plain to the children 
so that they may plainly speak the message of the poem, and present 
no difficulty if met elsewhere. So with the figurative expressions: 
"The bird did pour his full heart out freely;" "the sweetness did 
shine forth in happy overflow ; " " Thy bed shall be folded safe from 
harm ; " " stop, and straight unfold." 

There is no reason why the young readers should not come to realize 
the picture in these figurative expressions, to compare their several 
Avords with the figure which the poet has used, and to begin to sense 

7 



98 LEARNING TO READ. 



the difference between plain, straightforward speech and the pictured 
verses of the poet. Such study, however simple, will help the chil- 
dren to some appreciation of the beauty of expression, which is one 
charm of literature. 

From what has been said, it will be rightly judged that the poem 
affords a basis of several lessons, all of value in different directions. 
It may not be wise to make a detailed and careful study of every 
j)oem which is read or memorized by the children, but some teaching 
in the lines suggested is indispensable to intelligent reading on the 
part of the children. The phrases which are so familiar to us often 
suggest very curious ideas to the children. Their peculiar interpreta- 
tion is shown when they draw pictures to represent the scenes of a 
poem or story. In a certain school, the teacher read a story to the 
children containing the expression, "his mother gave him leave to go." 
The child drew the mother in the act of presenting a leaf to the boy. 
" Fret-work," said the boy who read " Sir Launfal " for the first time, 
" Fret-work is work that makes you fret ; " wliile the child who 
drew the picture of the hare and the tortoise represented a turtle and 
a boy witli bushy hair. Reference has been made elsewhere to the kid 
on the roof of the house which was pictured as a little boy, and the 
writer remembers the pictures which were drawn by children in illus- 
tration of the above poem, representing the angels with webbed feet.^ 
These items are intended simply to suggest that the child's crude 
notion is often very different from the meaning which the word or 
phrase conveys to us. Detailed study often reveals his error to us, 
if we bend a listening ear to his question or comment. We should be 
grateful for the frank question or the crude remark which betrays the 
child's mistake, and should be careful to secui-e such confidence and 

^ The illustrative lessons in this chapter are taken from "Reading: How to Teach it," a 
complete manual prepared by Miss Arnold and published by this house. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS. 99 



freedom in our classes as will enable us to discover what the children 
are really thinking. 

After the reading and discussion of the poem, the children may 
memorize it. At this juncture, it is wise for the teacher to read it to 
the children again and again, in order that they may get some notion 
of the proper reading. This will not be necessary in all classes, but 
where the children are accustomed to dull or monotonous reading, some 
outside standard is necessary. The children's recitation will incline to 
adopt the virtues of the teacher's reading. Let us not forget that the 
faults will be imitated, too. 

If after such study and such memorizing, the words of the j)oem 
appear now and then in the children's conversation or writing, let us 
rejoice, for this means not simply that new words have been added 
to the vocabulary, but that the child has a new conception of the beauty 
of thought as well as of speech. 



L.ofC. 



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